Another fine film-drama in the classic Rohmer style, plus a note on his Marquise of O

Eric Rohmer's 1984 film, Full Moon in Paris, is another one of his "inaction" dramas, a movie that feels more like a play, consisting almost entirely of a series of lengthy, one-to-one dialogs, with only a few exterior shots; also, like some of his other excellent films, this one (despite to sappy romantic title that conveys little info and the wrong mood for this film) focuses closely on a troubled young woman who seems to have a lot of friends (and lovers) but no happiness. In this film the woman, Louise, is a recent college grad with a low-level job in the design industry; she's living in a Paris suburb with her boyfriend (Remi), and they are obviously a mismatched couple: She likes to go out with her friends and spend the whole night partying, he's a stay-at-home type, a muscular athletic guy without her artistic interests and pretensions. At the outset, she decides to convert the small Paris apartment that she's been leasing out for some extra income into a "pied a terre," so that she can spend nights at will in the city partying w/ her friends. This is not going to work! She's extremely flirtation, carrying on a long flirting relationship with a pretentious writer (Octave), really leading a double-life - but unhappy in both lives. Of course Remi rebels at her absences, leading to one pretty violent and emotional outburst - but they reconcile, she claims to really love him, but needs her independence, and further confrontations and infidelities ensue. What strikes us throughout out the film is her unhappiness - reminding me in particular of Maud (My Night at Maud's) and the young woman in The Green Ray. This is a fine film for those who like and admire Rohmer's work over the years, though his films are like none other and not for all tastes.

One further note on Rohmer's  The Marquise of O, on which I posted a few days ago: I looked back on notes I posted a few years ago on the Heinrich von Kleist story that is the source for this movie and was reminded that in the story - which concerns who raped and impregnated the eponymous O - there's a really weird scene in which O seems to be sexually kissing her father, raising the issue of incest and abuse - a theme that, unless I missed something, Rohmer did not include in his adaptation. I wonder why not.

A period piece and another Rohmer "inaction" film

At first the 1976 Eric Rohmer film The Marquise of O doesn't look or feel like a typical Rohmer work: It's in color, a period piece (set during the Napoleonic Wars, ca 1800, at a palatial German estate) and it begins w/ a swashbuckling scene: Russian soldiers are overpowering the forces defending the castle at O; a young Russian officer sees a group of Russian soldiers attacking the young Marquise and trying to rape her; he comes to her rescue, earning the gratitude of the vanquished German nobleman. But don't worry, the action stops there - or at least the externally and conventionally dramatic action, and we soon enter Rohmer-land: A film comprising many extensive conversations among a small set of characters; almost all the shots are interiors, with no significant camera movement, very much as if we're watching a play (or a literal translation of a story - which this is, story by Heinrich von Kleist from ca 1800). So it's by no means an action film; it's really an inaction film; but still - fans of Rohmer and his unique, restrained, "classical" style will enjoy puzzling over the complex relationships that develop over time: The Russian soldier wants to marry the Marquise (she's a widowed mother of 2); her father at first welcomes the proposal but wants to give it the test of time; the Marquise finds out she's pregnant, but insists she never had sex since her widowhood; can you figure out where this story is heading? Of course you can, but it's still worth watching the intricacies of this drama - which does rise to a few points of crisis - unfold and, uneasily, resolve.