Discover

'Éric Rohmer' (born 'Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer', April 4, 1920, Tulle, France) is a French film director and screenwriter. He is regarded as a key figure in the post-war New Wave cinema and is a former editor of influential French film journal ''Cahiers du cinéma''.
Scherer fashioned his pseudonym from the names of two famous artists: actor and director Erich von Stroheim and writer Sax Rohmer, author of the Fu Manchu series.
Rohmer was the last of the French New Wave directors to become established, working as the editor of the ''Cahiers du cinéma'' periodical from 1957 to 1963, while most of his Cahiers colleagues (among them Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut) were making their name in international cinema.

Contents

Biography

Early career

Later professional life

Awards & Nominations

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Works for theatre

Works for television

External links

Biography

Early career

His beginnings as a film director were halting, not completing his first feature, ''Le signe du lion'' until 1959, and making little impact with it.
It was with his cycle of films entitled ''Six Moral Tales'' that his career began to take off. The first, ''La boulangère de Monceau'' lasts 20 minutes, the second 60 minutes, the rest are feature-length. Each tale follows the same basic story, inspired by F.W. Murnau's ''Sunrise'' — a man, married or otherwise committed to a woman, is tempted by a second woman, but ultimately resists the temptation. It was the third in the series (but the fourth to be filmed), ''Ma nuit chez Maud'' (1969) that brought international recognition and the following film, ''Le genou de Claire'', secured it.

Later professional life

Rohmer's films invariably concentrate on intelligent, articulate protagonists who nevertheless frequently fail to own up to their real desires and it is the contrast between what they say and what they do that fuels much of the drama in his films.
Following the ''Moral Tales'', Rohmer made two period films — ''Die Marquise von O...'' (1976) from a novella by Heinrich von Kleist and ''Perceval le Gallois'' (1978), based on a 12th century manuscript by Chrétien de Troyes. Rohmer is a highly literary man, and his films frequently refer to ideas and themes in plays and novels, such as references to Jules Verne (in ''The Green Ray''), Shakespeare (in ''A Winter's Tale'') and Pascal's Wager (in ''Ma nuit chez Maud'').
He then embarked on a second series, the ''Comedies and Proverbs'', each one based on a different proverb. This was followed by a third series in the 1990s: ''Tales of the Four Seasons''. Recently Rohmer, now well into his 80s, has turned once again to period drama with ''The Lady And The Duke'' and ''Triple Agent''. ''The Lady And The Duke'' caused considerable controversy in France, where its negative portrayal of the French Revolution led some critics to label it pro-monarchist propaganda. It has been well-received elsewhere, thanks to its innovative cinematic style and strong acting performances.

Awards & Nominations

Éric Rohmer was given the 'Career Golden Lion' in 2001 by the Venice Film Festival

★ ''La Collectionneuse'' (1967)

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'Silver Bear Winner - Special Prize of the Jury'

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'Youth Award Film Winner'

★ ''Ma nuit chez Maud'' (1969)

★
★ Cannes Film Festival Official Selection

★ ''La Marquise d'O...'' (1976)

★
★ Cannes Film Festival 'Grand Prize of the Jury Winner'

★ ''Pauline à la plage'' (1983)

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'Silver Bear Winner - Best Director'

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'OCIC Award Winner - Honorable Mention'

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'FIPRESCI Prize Winner - Competition'

★ ''Le Rayon vert'' (1986)

★
★ Venice Film Festival 'Golden Lion Winner'

★
★ Venice Film Festival 'FIPRESCI Prize Winner'

★ ''Conte d'hiver'' (1992)

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'FIPRESCI Prize Winner - Competition'

★
★ Berlin Film Festival 'Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Winner - Special Mention - Competition'

★ ''Conte d'automne'' (1998)

★
★ Venice Film Festival 'Golden Osella Winner - Best Original Screenplay'

★
★ Venice Film Festival 'Sergio Trasatti Award - Special Mention'

★ ''Triple Agent'' (2004)

★
★ Berlin Film Festival Official Selection

Filmography

Feature films

'''Contes moraux'' (''Six Moral Tales''):'

★ 1963 #1 ''La Boulangère de Monceau'' (''The Bakery Girl of Monceau'') — short, not released theatrically

★ 1963 #2 ''La Carrière de Suzanne'' (''Suzanne's Career'') — short, not released theatrically

★ 1967 #4 ''La Collectionneuse'' (''The Collector'')

★ 1969 #3 ''Ma nuit chez Maud'' (''My Night at Maud's'') — although planned as the third moral tale, its production was delayed due to the unavailability of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and consequently it was released after the fourth tale.

★ 1970 #5 ''Le Genou de Claire'' (''Claire's Knee'')

★ 1972 #6 ''L'Amour l'après-midi'' (''Love in the Afternoon''/''Chloe in the Afternoon'')
'''Comédies et Proverbes'' (''Comedies and Proverbs''):'

★ 1980 ''La Femme de l'aviateur'' (''The Aviator's Wife'') — "It is impossible to think about nothing."

★ 1982 ''Le Beau mariage'' (''A Good Marriage'') — "Can anyone refrain from building castles in Spain?"

★ 1983 ''Pauline à la plage'' (''Pauline At The Beach'') — "He who talks too much will hurt himself."

★ 1984 ''Les Nuits de la pleine lune'' (''Full Moon In Paris'') — "He who has two women loses his soul, he who has two houses loses his mind."

★ 1986 ''Le Rayon vert'' (''The Green Ray''/''Summer'') — "Ah, for the days/that set our hearts ablaze,"

★ 1987 ''L'Ami de mon amie'' (''My Girlfriend's Boyfriend''/''Boyfriends And Girlfriends'') — "My friends' friends are my friends."
'''Contes des quatre saisons'' (''Tales of the Four Seasons''):'

★ 1990 ''Conte de printemps'' (''A Tale Of Springtime'')

★ 1992 ''Conte d'hiver'' (''A Winter's Tale''/''A Tale of Winter'')

★ 1996 ''Conte d'été'' (''A Summer's Tale'')

★ 1998 ''Conte d'automne'' (''Autumn Tale'')
'Non-series'

★ 1959 ''Le Signe du lion''

★ 1976 ''La Marquise d'O... (The Marquise of O...)''

★ 1978 ''Perceval le Gallois''

★ 1987 ''Quatre Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle (Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle)''

★ 1993 ''L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque (The Tree, The Mayor, and the Mediatheque)''

★ 1995 ''Les Rendez-vous de Paris (Rendezvous in Paris)''

★ 2000 ''L'Anglaise et le duc (The Lady And The Duke)''

★ 2004 ''Triple Agent''

★ 2007 ''Les Amours d'Astrée et de Céladon''

Short films

★ 1950 ''Journal d'un scélérat''

★ 1951 ''Présentation ou Charlotte et son steak''

★ 1952 ''Les Petites filles modèles'' (unfinished)

★ 1954 ''Bérénice''

★ 1956 ''La Sonate à Kreutzer''

★ 1958 ''Véronique et son cancre''

★ 1964 ''Nadja à Paris''

★ 1965 "Place de l'étoile" from ''Paris vu Par... (Six in Paris)''

★ 1966 ''Une Étudiante d'aujourd'hui''

★ 1983 ''Loup y es-tu? (Wolf, Are You There?)''

★ 1986 ''Bois ton café (Drink your coffee it's getting cold!)'' (music video])

★ 1997 ''Fermière à Montfaucon''

★ 1997 ''Un dentiste exemplaire''

★ 1999 ''La Cambrure (The Curve)''

★ 1999 ''Une histoire qui se dessine''

★ 2004 ''Le canapé rouge''

Works for theatre

★ 1979 ''Catherine de Heilbronn''

★ 1987 ''Le trio en si bémol''

Works for television

'Episodes for ''En profil dans le texte'''

★ 1963 ''Paysages urbains''

★ 1964 ''

★ 1964 ''

★ 1964 ''Les salons de Diderot''

★ 1964 ''Perceval ou le conte du Graal''

★ 1965 ''Don Quichotte de Cervantes''

★ 1965 ''Les histoires extraordinaires d'Edgar Poe''

★ 1965 ''Les caractères de La Bruyère''

★ 1965 ''Entretien sur Pascal''

★ 1966 ''Victor Hugo, les contemplations''

★ 1968 ''Entretien avec Mallarmé''

★ 1968 ''Nancy au XVIIIe siècle''

★ 1969 ''Victor Hugo architecte''

★ 1969 ''La sorcière de Michelet''

★ 1969 ''Le béton dans la ville''

★ 1970 ''Le français langue vivante?''
'Episodes for ''Cinéastes de notre temps'''

★ 1965 ''Carl Th. Dreyer''

★ 1966 ''Le celluloïd et le marbre''
'Episodes for ''Aller au cinéma'''

★ 1968 ''Post-face à l'Atalante''

★ 1968 ''Louis Lumière''

★ 1968 ''Post-face à Boudu sauvé des eaux
''
'''Ville nouvelle''' (1975, four-part miniseries)

★ Épisode 1: ''L'enfance d'une ville''

★ Épisode 2: ''La diversité du paysage urbain''

★ Épisode 3: ''La forme de la ville''

★ Épisode 4: ''Le logement à la demande''
'Episode for ''Histoire de la vie privée'''

★ 1989 ''Les Jeux de société''
'non-series'

★ 1967 ''L'homme et la machine''

★ 1967 ''L'homme et les images''

★ 1968 ''L'homme et les frontières''

★ 1968 ''L'homme et les gouvernements''

External links

★

★

★ Éric Rohmer — a highly unofficial page

★ Éric Rohmer — critical essay at Kamera

★ Interview with Rohmer on The Lady and the Duke from 2001

★ Interview with 'The French Revolutionary - Eric Rohmer

★ Criterion Collection essay by Geoff Andrew