Eric Rohmer (1910-2010) often worked in cycles. The last of the French New Wave directors to gain notoriety, his Six Moral Tales series cemented his reputation alongside Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut as not only one of the most insightful filmmakers of his era, but also “the most durable filmmaker of the French New Wave,” according to his obituary in The Daily Telegraph. But while most of his contemporaries had died or stopped making vital films by the end of the 20th century, Rohmer’s final cycle of films, Tales of Four Seasons (1990-1998) back up another platitude in his obituary: that he was “still making movies the public wanted to see” even at the end of his career.
The first in the cycle, A Tale of Springtime (1990) tells the story of a blossoming friendship between two women. Jeanne (Anne Teyssèdre), a philosophy teacher, meets the young Natacha (Florence Darel) at a party. After a short conversation, Jeanne confesses she is looking to stay out late. Her boyfriend is out of town, and she doesn’t want to spend the weekend alone in his apartment. Jeanne has loaned her own flat to her cousin and cannot stay there either. Natacha comes up with an idea: her father is out of town, so why doesn’t Jeanne come and stay with her.
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We learn that Natacha’s father, Igor (Hugues Quester) is staying with his young girlfriend, Eve (Eloise Bennett). Natacha doesn’t like Eve, who is roughly the same age as she is. Jeanne seems like a better match. The next morning, Igor comes home and surprises Jeanne, who is just getting out of the shower. Did Natacha know that her father would be back? Is she playing matchmaker?
Though the plot sounds like the makings of an American meet-cute rom-com, Rohmer is a very different sort of director. His films are comprised of long, philosophical conversations and immaculately designed settings. Jeanne is dubious of Natacha’s intentions but soon enough, both women end up at Igor’s country home where they joined by both Igor and Eve. Here, under the guise of new growth, Natacha’s plan takes root. Soon enough, Eve storms back to Paris in a huff and Natacha goes off with her boyfriend, leaving Jeanne and Igor to talk at length about whether they should get together, with Jeanne ultimately rejecting him.
Rohmer does treat his characters at a bit of a remove in A Tale of Springtime making it somewhat difficult to fully dive into their emotional turmoil. Some of the more talky sections of the movie can feel a bit staid and Rohmer is often static in his camerawork. Eve and Natacha sometimes flare into anger, but they are 18. Jeanne and Igor never show any evidence of passion. His actors are likable enough, but we never truly care if they get together or not.
Each of the films in Rohmer’s Tales of Four Seasons is a stand-alone story. A Tale of Springtime was well-received by critics upon its debut but it remains the least-adored of the four movies. Writing for the New York Times, Vincent Canby remarked on the precision of Rohmer’s set and the look of the film, calling it “direct and clean” and “the movie equivalent to prose that dispenses with adjectives and adverbs.” Jonathan Rosenbaum, on the other hand, was not a fan, claiming that Rohmer’s characters “seem finished even before” the tale begins.
For a director working at 70 years old, A Tale of Springtime functions as a promise. The notion of cycles (Igor’s rotating cast of young girlfriends) and renewal (the budding plants and trees of the country house) hint at a coming reinvigoration for the director. A Tale of Springtime serves as an amuse-bouche for the subsequent films, spring serving as the beginning, the start to something.
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