In The Big Chill, Jeff Goldblum’s character observes how nobody can get through the day without the benefit of at least one good rationalization. In the world of French director Eric Rohmer, people, at least, try not to rationalize. In this they may not quite succeed, but they are nonetheless scrupulous in their attempts. Rohmer depicts a world in which people are absorbed by their thoughts. His characters are always in an active process of self-discovery; they give voice to their nascent feelings and interpret unspoken languages. Lest his characters sound like tedious, over-analytical boors, let me hasten to add that they come across as anything but that. They are people for whom conversation is a stimulant, observation is a pastime and contemplation is a worldly pleasure. In A Tale of Springtime Jeanne (Teyssèdre) leaves her teaching job in the suburbs at the end of the day, drives to Paris, walks up stairs, moves about a messy apartment, leaves, drives, climbs stairs, enters another apartment, leaves and is next seen in another apartment in the suburbs engaged in conversation with young Natacha (Darel) who invites Jeanne to drive them both back to Paris and spend the weekend at the apartment Natacha shares with her father who, himself, spends most of his time at his girlfriend’s apartment. The movie is about little things, about spaces and architecture, about how human beings fit into those spaces and shape them, about clutter and order in all things cerebral and domestic. It’s a tale of spring cleaning in both thought and deed. There’s just enough plot to keep things active and Teyssèdre and Darel are both so beautiful and engaging to watch. For Rohmer, A Tale of Springtime is the first film in his new series, Tales of the Four Seasons. Anyone familiar with Rohmer knows that he works in film cycles: there were his Six Moral Tales of the Sixties and Seventies and the Comedies and Proverbs of the Eighties. And while I have to admit that there was always some prissy quality that used to irritate me in his Moral Tales and his more recent Comedies and Proverbs I quite often overlooked, his A Tale of Springtime has me reassessing everything I thought I knew about Rohmer. I am beginning to see how each of his films is a small piece of the one lifelong movie he’s be cobbling all these years. And I am beginning to see how who I am at different points in my life affects my responses. And I now look forward to the unfolding of the seasons.
This article appears in January 24 • 2003.
