Conte de printemps (1990)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writer:

Eric Rohmer (writer)

Release Date:

4 April 1990 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Simple conversations engender complicated human interactions. Jeanne is open and even-tempered, a philosophy teacher at a lycée...

Plot Keywords:

Cousin | Piano | Vacation | Lost And Found | Piano Player

Cast

Anne Teyssèdre	...	Jeanne
Hugues Quester	...	Igor
Florence Darel	...	Natacha
Eloïse Bennett	...	Ève
Sophie Robin	...	Gaëlle
Marc Lelou	...	Gildas
François Lamore	...	William

Also Known As:

A Tale of Springtime (USA)
Contes des quatre saisons: Conte de printemps
Tales of Four Seasons (USA)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | France:U | Brazil:12 | Germany:6 | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Lycée Jacques Brel, 4-6, Rue Dulcie La Courneuve, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Company:

Compagnie Eric Rohmer (CER)

Trivia:

First installment of the "Tales of Four Seasons" series.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinéma, de notre temps: Eric Rohmer - Preuves à l'appui" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Montmorency Blues

Tension builds to an upbeat ending

From the beginning of this film to the end Jeanne is constantly displaced. The first scene has her returning to her own apartment after a long absence to find the cousin she was allowing to borrow the place is still there in spite of her agreement to leave a day or two previously. Although she desperately wants to return to the order of her own place she pretends that she was just stopping by to pick something up on her way back to the place she shares with her out of town boyfriend. However, she does not feel comfortable returning to this disordered place so to avoid it as long as possible she goes to the party of a former acquaintance. Here she meets Natasha and the plot gets started.

Natasha lives alone in a big apartment and she invites Jeanne to stay with her a few days. Jeanne mostly feels out of place here as well but her two day stay stretches into something like ten before she is finally able to return home. During this time she grows increasingly agitated which causes her to act distrustful and paranoid. Unfortunately, her new friend Natasha is acting much the same way toward her father's current love interest and the combination of a negative atmosphere and her own paranoia put her in a rather unpleasant situation.

In spite of the general tension of the plot, A Tale of Springtime ends on a very upbeat note that suggests most of the distrust the characters felt toward one another was unfounded. Indeed, the blossoming of new relationships and the general happiness of the characters make Spring a fitting setting for the film. Still, I couldn't help but feel that this wasn't one of Rohmer's strongest efforts: sure, the characters were just as natural as ever and the dialog was even more chock full of interesting ideas than usual but the cinematography wasn't all that special. All things considered, I would say this was quite good but nowhere near the best Rohmer has offered.