Eric Rohmer - Six Moral Tales [DVD]

Exactly what was wanted: a nicely put together Artificial Eye DVD box set - six films on five discs - bringing together all of the "Moral Tales" series - the films that made Eric Rohmer's reputation & arguably the best films of his long career.

After the unfortunate false start of his debut ("Le Signe du Lion") Rohmer found his trademark style with the first Moral Tales "Girl at Monceau Bakery" & "Suzanne's Career" - 2 short 1963 films together on disc 1 of this box set. These are both freewheeling new wave fun - showing what you can do on a zero budget with some black & white film stock and a Paris street as a film set. Both films are coming of age stories (told by voiceover) about young men encountering women & love.
"My Night at Maud's" is probably Rohmer's masterpiece - a black & white film largely consisting of the protagonists sitting in Maud's bedroom talking about religion, politics, philosophy, love and sex (and mathematics!). A much richer film than it might at first appear, extremely accomplished with beautiful cinematography from Nestor Almendros & fantastic acting (especially from Trintignant in a demanding role).

In lovely 60s colour "La Collectioneuse" (1966) is my personal favourite & it's great to have it on DVD at last. Two young nihilistic bohemians spend their vacation at a summer house in the south of France, but find a girl already staying there. Various power & sexual mind-games ensue & in the end it is the girl who turns out to be the "liberated" one. At the same time that Godard was filming young Parisian Maoists in "La Chinoise", Rohmer was filming the Parisian dandy hedonists in a similarly ambivalent (satirical?) way. The film has a number of connections with the so-called "Zanzibar" group of bohemians (even Donald "Performance" Cammell pops up briefly). Anyone interested the Garrell circle (and films like Regular Lovers / The Dreamers) might want to check out "La Collectioneuse". Excellent central performances from Haydee as the girl and a young Patrick Bauchau (recently seen in Lars Von Trier's "Five Obstructions").

"Claire's Knee" (1970) is about a man on holiday who becomes obsessed with a teenage girl - her knee being the fetish of his obsession. Perhaps only a French director could film this as a universal moral tale rather than a story of unseemly perversion. "Claire's Knee" is one of Rohmer's best-known films as is "Love in the Afternoon", though the latter stands up less well in my opinion. Bernard Verley is a less impressive leading man than his illustrious predecessors in the Moral Tales series. The film also stars Zouzou (another Zanzibar group associate) who was already something of a sixties casualty when this film was made in 1972. She gives an all too believable performance as the former wild child becoming an embarrassment as she tries to go straight in the harsh new decade. But the rest of the film & cast seem to be playing in a register of mild conservative comedy cruelly at odds with Zouzou's character.

This box set is basic - no booklet & very basic annotations / information but there are a few extras (short films / trailers).

Great collection of Rohmer's masterworks...excellent prints to treasure for years.
My Night at Maud's is the stand-out film in the series but the others are excellent.

..EXCELLENT FILMS.... AT LEAST ARTIFICIAL EYE HAVE RELEASED OTHER HARD TO FIND ROHMER FILMS ON REGION 2, SO CANT COMPLAIN TOO MUCH. SHAME ERIC HAD TO DIE FIRST BEFORE IT HAPPENED THOUGH! R.I.P.