A Tale of Winter (1992)

Five years after losing touch with a summer fling, a woman has difficulty choosing between her two suitors.

Director:

Éric Rohmer

Writer:

Éric Rohmer

Stars:

Charlotte Véry, Frédéric van den Driessche, Michel Voletti

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlotte Véry	...	Félicie
Frédéric van den Driessche	...	Charles
Michel Voletti	...	Maxence
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

Storyline

Felicie and Charles have a serious if whirlwind holiday romance. Due to a mix-up on addresses they lose contact, and five years later at Christmas-time Felicie is living with her mother in a cold Paris with a daughter as a reminder of that long-ago summer. For male companionship she oscillates between hairdresser Maxence and the intellectual Loic, but seems unable to commit to either as the memory of Charles and what might have been hangs over everything.

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Plot Keywords:

librarian | winter | female nudity | train | sequel | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.

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Quotes

Felicie: Many women would rather live with some other man, but he's not real, he's a dream. For me, the dream was reality. An absent reality.

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Connections

Followed by A Summer's Tale (1996)

User Reviews

Do You Believe In Fairy Tales?

Second chapter of Rohmer's Tales Of The Four Seasons (before filming Winter's Tale he made Spring's Tale). This time the french director tells us the story of Felice, a girl in the search of her soul mate. Actually she had found him in some holidays, his name was Charles, and she got pregnant, but at the end of that summer of joy and love she gave him a wrong address... so she never saw his love again and couldn't locate him either. Five years after she's living in Paris, at her mother's house, with her daughter and she's going out with two different men, although she's not in love with none of'em. She can't love anyone but Charles. Will she ever find the lost love of her life? Does she believe in miracles? That's something we'll find out as we watch this Rohmer's film.

Gene Hackman said in some movie that "watching a Rohmer's movie is just like watching a plant grow". Obviously that'll be the opinion of most of the people (especially those who enjoy themselves watching Steven Seagal or Van Damme's movies); but there's something else in cinema (and in life) as well as kicks, guns, explosions, and parties. What about feelings, reflexions, love, doubts, philosophy? That's what Eric Rohmer seems to care about, and that's what he usually talks about in his movies. Ordinary people, living ordinary lives, with their ordinary problems, and their ordinary conflicts. In some way he's such a "voyeur": he puts his camera in some corner of the room and lets the characters express themselves. How they feel, what do they expect from life, what are their dreams, their fears... I think that's why he usually works with unknown actors and actresses: that way the audience feels like they're watching a completely unknown talking or crying, or laughing. I would not work the same if he picked Gerard Depardieu or Juliette Binoche for this sort of movies. Also he uses a literary language in the dialogues (dialogues, the base of Rohmer's cinematography), though his movies show ordinary situations the people in there definitely doesn't talk like normal people. Some may say that's a handicap, that people doesn't talk about existence and the meaning of life when they're having a coffee in some coffee-shop; but when I want to hear real-life dialogues with real-life sentences, rough language, and so I just go and watch some Tarantino movie.

I wouldn't recommend Rohmer's movies to anyone; 'cause I assume that movies such as Winter's Tale may result boring for many people. So I only recommend this movie (and the rest of Tales of the Four Seasons) to those who look for something else in cinema and (again) in life apart from hollow entertainment.

My Rate: 8/10

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

29 January 1992 (France)

Also Known As:

A Tale of Winter

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,802, 21 December 2014

Gross USA:

$23,268

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$52,431

Company Credits

Production Co:

Compagnie Eric Rohmer (CER), Les Films du Losange, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1