Conte d'hiver (1992)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writer:

Eric Rohmer (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 1992 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Felicie and Charles have a serious if whirlwind holiday romance. Due to a mix-up on addresses they lose contact...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Winter | Sequel | Train

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charlotte Véry	...	Félicie
Frédéric van den Driessche	...	Charles
Michel Voletti	...	Maxence (as Michael Voletti)
Hervé Furic	...	Loïc
Ava Loraschi	...	Elise
Christiane Desbois	...	Mother
Rosette	...	Sister
Jean-Luc Revol	...	Brother-in-Law
Haydée Caillot	...	Edwige
Jean-Claude Biette	...	Quentin
Marie Rivière	...	Dora
Claudine Paringaux	...	Customer
Roger Dumas	...	Léontès
Danièle Lebrun	...	Paulina
Diane Lepvrier	...	Hermione

Also Known As:

A Tale of Winter (USA)
A Winter's Tale

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-8 | Spain:13 | Sweden:Btl | UK:12 | Germany:6

Company:

C.E.R.

Quotes:

Felicie: For me the dream was reality. An absent reality.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Conte d'automne (1998)

A Tale of Faith in the Cold

This second in Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons begins with a rapid montage that shows the amazingly romantic beach vacation romance of Felicie and Charles. The two appear to be quite in love but continuation of their relationship is hindered by Felicie foolishly giving him the wrong address. Cut to 5 years later and Felicie is living with that mistake and Charles's daughter. Her subsequent relationships with men have not been successful and in fact around half of the film shows the two major ones in their late stages.

As I watched Felicie and her attempts to get along with her two suitors I couldn't quite decide how to interpret her actions. Clearly both men cared for her but she was unable or unwilling to care for them to the same degree. I wasn't sure whether to view her actions cynically and assume she was just using the missing man as a larger than life figure which other men couldn't hope to measure up to or to view them more generously and assume that Charles was actually her true love. The beauty of the film is that ultimately it could be seen either way.

Regardless of her true motivations it was quite clear that she really had faith in her love for Charles. In fact, it seems to be in her nature to take things on faith. She relies on intuition rather than logic to make decisions; this often makes her actions seem unintelligent but to simplify her this way would be a mistake. In a conversation about reincarnation she makes arguments that her friend recognizes as being similar to the philosophies of Pascal and Plato, two writers she hasn't read.

Although the plot of this film is more conventional (i.e. it has something like a resolution) than most Rohmer films it still manages to be quite effective and emotionally resonant. The cinematography is quite good, especially in the opening montage and the urban night scenes. Also, once again Rohmer does an incredible job of capturing the essence of a complex character. One of the best Rohmer films I've seen