One spends a lovely two hours in the French wine country with Eric Rohmer's "Autumn Tale (Conte d'automne)," though this is probably a niche movie for women over 35 - a guy in the back snored through it.This is a delightfully fun movie of character actors with interesting faces having mature conversations about relationships. I've been a Rohmer fan since at least "Claire's Knee" and at age 79 Rohmer uses his camera much more fluidly, though the conversations are no longer like "My Dinner with Andre."All these full-bodied characters have lives and things to do and can't just sit around sipping wine, though they do that too. We are first introduced to the middle-aged characters through their grown kids' disdainful opinions. We get a nice range of relationships, old and young, for comparisons.The climax of the movie is two introductory conversations between two couples and we actually hold our breaths at the outcomes, with one strained by the guy's roving eye and the other a natural coming together of mutual interests.(originally written 7/25/1999)

Where did Mr Rohmer get the money to make such a terrible movie ? A nightmare, from beginning to end, a nightmare of boredom and pretention. All actors speak "fake" (hearing them is unbearable after 3 minutes), the story is stupid (every basic 1pm telenovela has better plot and twist), there is no direction (south of France looks bad for the first time on screen). What's the purpose of all this ? Who wants to spend 2 hours around these uninteresting depressed french semi-intellectuals ? Not me.

Pauline Kael once made the comment that she heard a man say, enthousiastically, "It's so French!" when coming out of a so-so film, and hated the mixture of complacency and cultural one-upmanship contained in the remark. Rohmer appeals to snobs, mainly: people who disdain American films because they are made with big budgets and bankable stars, and the story had better move forward.This is Beatrice Romand's sixth film with Rohmer, Marie Riviere's seventh. By now the octogenarian director has gotten so stuck in the groove with these actresses he can direct in his sleep (I never felt that way with Bergman and Bibi Andersson, or Liv Ullmann). Push the Romand button, you get pouty obstinacy, arms crossed defiantly. Riviere gives you smiling indulgence, matronly charm--she's a sort of June Allyson. This is a really tiresome picture lacking story, characterization, social comment, any of the things I look for in French cinema. Rohmer is like one of those old singers who should have retired years ago, but the fans keep going to the shows because they're afraid to admit they're aging too. Avoid.

If you are a fan of Eric Rohmer's cinema, as I am, then you will love this film: it's smooth, utterly believable, and the characters force you to sympathize with them. I watched it (on video) without once ever being aware of the passing of time.Of course, there are no special effects, snazzy photography, or big questions about the afterlife addressed.