Summer is about to begin, and Delphine, a single young woman living in Paris, has no plans for the oncoming months as her boyfriend has just broken up with her. She travels to Cherbourg with a friend to spend her vacation there, but she returns to Paris. She avoids going to Ireland with her parents, and decides to go to the Alps instead. She meets a topless Swedish lady on a beach (as you do) and they quickly become friends.
I am determined to find a good Rohmer film, so much so, I skipped two films in 'The Eric Rohmer Collection' box-set as 'The Green Ray' is often considered his finest work. Although everyone seems to have a different Rohmer favourite, this film is always near the top of peoples lists. It also won the Golden Lion at the 1986 Venice Film Festival, their highest award (An Italian Oscar sort of).
What I disliked about his other films is that they were not cinematic, they didn't deal with interesting subjects, they were set on the dismal streets of Paris, and they consisted of conversations about love. J'adore this and J'adore that. 'My Night with Maud' was my favourite film by him and most of that was spent in a bedroom talking about love. 'The Green Ray' is different!!! It doesn't do any of the things mentioned above, and is a decent film.
The subject is the loneliness of a French girl, still recovering from a break-up. She wants to escape it by going on holiday, but finds she can't. There are numerous occasions when Delphine is introduced to men, but each time she refuses them, knowing that love is futile and determined to think that men aren't interesting. Something Delphine learns is that it's easier to deal with loneliness if she looks to the future instead of the past/present.
The locations include Paris, Cherbourg (Nothern France) and The Alps region (Southern France). Paris is filmed in his usual bland style, but the film gets interesting when she visits the picturesque and sunny Cherbourg. The last thirty minutes of the film is spent in a town by The Alps, that is even more beautiful than Cherbourg, with packed beaches and gorgeous sunsets. The same style camera shots and lighting are used throughout, but it is amazing how much things improve with a great background.
Not just the location, but the whole film elevates in it's final third. The acting by Marie Riviere is more significant, as her character's impressive reactions show the true feelings of her character. Awkward conversations are told realistically (and quite painfully), while other conversations end in Delphine emotionally breaking down. This is a big step up from her performance in 'The Aviator's Wife'.
There are still conversations where the characters babble on about mindless twaddle (A Rohmer staple-mark so it appears), especially visible in the first ten minutes where characters just talk about holidays. However, the film is a humongous improvement with great locations, acting, story and there are no scenes set in bedrooms! The mini stories about turning over playing cards and the green ray of sunset are implemented well. The finale is strange, as it builds up tension, and I actually cared about Delphine, two things missing in the previous films I have seen of Rohmer. I may make 'The Green Ray' sound amazing, but honestly, it's still a Rohmer film and the film didn't really get going until the final third.
TO CONCLUDE
It may be the best Rohmer, but his films are still hard to like.
SCORE
73
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