Introduction

Abstract

Eric Rohmer is one of the most important figures associated with the French New Wave that transformed cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. Although less celebrated than the likes of Godard and Truffaut, he has been an influential figure as a critic, film theorist and, most importantly, film-maker. His all-round contribution to cinema was recognised in 2001 when he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. Indeed, Rohmer’s strategy of making films in series, the six Moral Tales from 1962–72, the six Comedies and Proverbs of the period 1981–7 and the four Tales of the Four Seasons of 1990–8, has been taken to be an inspiration for the decision of the more feted Kieslowski to organise the Three Colours trilogy (Andrew 1998; Grey 2001). Kieslowski said that he liked Rohmer’s work, although before the late 1980s he was not aware that by then Rohmer had made two series of films (Kieslowski in Insdorf 1999: 84). Rohmer has also made four full-length feature films that are similar in style to those in the series, although they do not fit in with any of them (The Sign of Leo, 1959; Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, 1986; The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediacentre, 1993; Rendezvous in Paris, 1995). They might be considered occasional, but they remain important in Rohmer’s oeuvre.

Film … teaches us to see

Eric Rohmer

Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer

Simone Weil