AND FINALLY, HE STROKES CLAIRE’S KNEE
Jan 21st, 2010 by Sean Baite
[ Libération cover from the day after Rohmer’s death ]
During the mid 80s Mozzer moaned about Channel 4’s late night programming in song - something or other about ‘plans for a future war’. I don’t remember that particular evening but I do have a (very possibly) distorted memory of there always seeming to be an Eric Rohmer film on late at night around about then. I was reminded of how much I loved those films during last week when Rohmer’s death was reported in the French media
On the rare evenings I wasn’t out on the local green drinking a cider/white spirits cocktail with other young DIY enthusiasts Channel 4 (or was it BBC 2?) would treat me to some of Rohmer’s wonderful films from around that time : Pauline à la plage, 4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle , Le rayon vert , Les nuits de la pleine lune ..
On reflection, Rohmer may well be the one I should sue (had he stayed on with us a little longer) for giving me the false idea that France was full of young beautiful and intelligent people spending much of their time having lengthy conversations about their deliciously complicated love lives. As it turned out, the corner of France I ended up in is probably more accurately defined by TF1’s Jean Pierre Pernaut or the backarse of France’s darling Patrick Sébastien than by anything Rohmer produced. Still, I can console myself with the pleasure procured in sitting through a dozen or so of his films on the 2 sasanach stations or whenever his films were programmed by the French Film Festival in Dublin.
The week of Rohmer’s death coincided with a full frontal media assault on behalf of Cameron’s Avatar. I don’t think there could possibly be a wider gulf between the working methods of the two directors. Cameron’s little ecological fable probably cost around about the GDP over the last decade of most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Rohmer’s films were made on shoestring budgets - watching them you can sometimes feel you’re in front of holiday footage taken by a very interesting uncle. Given that Rohmer started his career as a French literature teacher before writing for the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma the script/dialogue is always intricately worked out while the technical side of the filming might not always seem to have been fully thought through. We get two hours of characters speaking like books - except that they’re books with lots of background noise in them.
His subject matter, bar a couple of exceptions (an adaptation of a Kleist novella and his costume drama based on Arthurian legend) was usually drawn from the same well as, say, Woody Allen - complicated people generally in even more complicated romances. Like many middle-aged French men, indeed middle-aged men full stop, he had a particular obsession with beautiful young women of around about the twenty mark (understandable perhaps). He gave a cinema debut to many’s the beautiful French starlette - a further bonus in watching his films. He also gave a start in cinema - and a lead role in a half a dozen or so films - to the fast-talking Fabrice Lucchini - who has gone on to become somewhat of an institution in French theatre / cinema.
Through anti-Cameron laziness, I failed to come up with any striking clips from the usual trawl through YouTube - but somebody from The Guardian has done the job for me Rohmer’s career d’après YouTube I’ll just put this one clip up myself in tribute to Eric the Great - taken from his Conte d’été (Summer’s Tale) which I won’t have seen on Channel 4 as it’s of more recent vintage. In this clip he manages the minor miracle of dragging a song out of French nationals - without using torture (as if by coincidence - the singer is a beautiful young lady of around 20) :
The Guardian obituary can be found here
And as my parting glass to Rohmer, who better than Neil Hannon - in the middle of whose song Claire’s knee gets stroked. For once a Frenchman put his hand to good use :
Lights out M. Rohmer. And a thousand thanks - my lawyer will be in contact with yours…
Great post Seán.
Merci Conor.
Ah, I was hoping you’d write about Rohmer, as it wasn’t the BBC or Channel 4 that put me on to his films, but you’re good self. I got into an argument with an American once about Le rayon vert who fell back lazily on what the Gene Hackman character in Night Moves said, that watching one of his films was kind of like watching paint dry.
French movies? Hmmm… summed up pretty well here, methinks.
Donagh - I think that quote came up in a couple of the obits alright. Could possibly stand up in court alright. Let us categorically state, in case Homeland security are listening, that you didn’t go on to put the ‘genou de Donagh’ into said Yank and that you weren’t at the time a possessor of a French film-loving radical Imam’s beard..
Tombuktu… hmmm indeed - I think they’ve missed out on all the sub-rules about body hair :-> That one referred to Les filles ne savent pas nager must be proof that TV5 were operating on an even slimmer budget than Network 2 - as it definitely sounds like a ’straight to bargain bucket’ release. Has long since disappeared to the bottom of the shallow end somewhere.
As the main fixation of the set of rules appears to be nudity - probably best keeping away from Rohmers - as his films were pretty prudish in that regard. Most of the Godards will pass with flying colours though.