Les rendez-vous de Paris (1995)

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writer:

Eric Rohmer (writer)

Release Date:

28 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Three stories of love and coincidence around the theme of dates in Paris.

Plot Keywords:

Betrayal | Art | Paris France

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Clara Bellar	...	Esther
Antoine Basler	...	Horace
Mathias Mégard	...	Flirt
Judith Chancel	...	Aricie
Malcolm Conrath	...	Felix
Cécile Parès	...	Hermione
Olivier Poujol	...	Boy at Cafe
Aurore Rauscher	...	Her
Serge Renko	...	Him
Michael Kraft	...	Painter
Bénédicte Loyen	...	Young Woman
Veronika Johansson	...	Swedish Friend

Also Known As:

Rendezvous in Paris

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Germany:o.Al. | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Compagnie Eric Rohmer (CER)

Rohmer does Paris in three mini vignettes

What is love? and can you explain it. Using three meetings at different locations , Rohmer creates a parable on the intricate and surprising nature of love. The first story about a rendezvous at seven is the best. Insidious in its nature, it plants the seeds of doubt that blossom into the tale of two women and two men, each seeking and expecting divergent results. Filled with coincidences, all three tales are, it presents the surprises we don't see coming.

The second story which is kind of dull or more demanding depending on taste, follows a couple meeting up in many public locations. The female character is afraid to meet in private despite the urgings of her male lover and when she does make the leap, the consequences will forever change the relationship.

The goat of the pack is the final vignette, a story titled after a Picasso painting that features prominently in story. Again the obvious is pushed aside for the unexpected and there is a certain breezy, plush ending to the proceedings that seems to jar with what has become.

A comedy in three parts, there is a chorus group that is interspersed and opens each story. Cherubic in nature, the songs present certain adages on the nature of love and life.

A mixture of his moral tales with his comedies and proverb series, it is the lesser of each but sub-par Rohmer is still superior to most filmmakers. His low frills style of film making which a previous reviewer called cheap tells him how little he knows about the edict of the French New wave, the only die-hard adherent remained Rohmer, his rules, a quantifier closer to the Dogma'95 tradition of cinema. It is cinema of the heart at its finest.