Finding the performances in the first part of this loosely connected movie series to be better than what I was expecting from Eric Rohmer, (who was such a hipster that he never owned a phone-bloody hippy!) that I decided to take a look at the second in the series.The plot:Deciding that she has had enough of being a mistress for married men,art student Sabine sets her sights on finding a good single man.Meeting up with her pal Clarisse, Clarisse ends up introducing Sabine to her cousin Edmond.Soon falling for him,Sabine decides that Edmond is the one,but soon finds her past catching up.View on the film:Joined by an off-beat score from Ronan Girre & Simon des Innocents,writer/director Éric Rohmer and cinematographer Bernard Lutic tan the title in a golden bloom which casts a romantic Autumn atmosphere over the film. Holding her head high, Béatrice Romand gives a good performance as Sabine,whose art side Romand rolls in, along with all the frustrations just under Sabine's fingers.Making Sabine an art student,the screenplay by auteur Rohmer laps up all of the golden lights from the middle class elite art world.Whilst his love of the bourgeoisie life fits the arty brush strokes,it leads to Sabine's romance with Edmond to feel incredibly empty,due to Rohmer's fixture on the bourgeoisie leading to a calm mood which stops any sign of passion or intimacy being shown in a marriage that is breaking apart at the seams.

Seems I can't win with Rohmer. Just when I'd concluded he was only good for static, philosophical debate with ciphers in lieu of flash and blood characters he weighs in with this entry which indicates that he HAS been watching to see how the Big Boys do it because this time around he actually takes his camera off the tripod, throws in the odd fluid sequence and even mixes between Master, Long, Mediumn and Close Shots. As if that weren't enough he goes further by using actors that we've actually HEARD of like Andre Dussollier and Arelle Dombasle. On the other hand he's still not paying a great deal of attention to plausibility and allowing coincidence too great a role in the scheme of things. However, on the whole this particular title isn't too hard to take, especially as a freebie with an English newspaper.

This is a novel idea for a movie--a woman who is tired of crappy relationships and so she deliberately sets out to find a man to marry. She is so hot for marriage, that she grabs onto the first apparently eligible bachelor who fits her basic criteria. This is pretty interesting and new, so it kept my attention. However, the movie never really became a comedy or tragedy or stalking film (though it came close) and when it ended, not a whole lot had been accomplished. I just felt rather unsatisfied and wanted to see more attempts by this ditzy lady. By the way, this movie actually reminded me of the Cary Grant/Betsy Drake film EVERY GIRL SHOULD BE MARRIED, though the Grant/Drake film was cuter and a little more contrived. Plus, Cary or Betsy NEVER would have shown their naked butts in a movie!

eric rohmer's films are so clearly his. The slow but deliberate pacing and crisp, to-the-point dialogue are two hallmarks of his style for me, and this film is an excellent example of those two qualities.As with the other rohmer films I have seen, the characters are less individual, specific personalities than they are vessels for a type of person or for one side of an argument. Here we have the two female leads almost skipping exposition entirely, and going straight into philosophical discussions of love and marriage. What I like about monsieur rohmer is that he manages to do this without taking away all our empathy for his characters. He always shows us how the character's hands are played out, so we can see what the result of their actions were, and think about what we would have done, or will do in our lives. tres bien, monsieur rohmer; j'adore vos travails.