Autumn Tale (1998)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Autumn Tale (1998) – E. Rohmer

Unmistakably an Eric Rohmer film – all that talk, talk, talk!  But what beguiling talk it is, developing the characters, setting out their wants and needs, orchestrating a delicious plot, and finally resolving in a conclusion that feels true and earned.  Yet at the same time, the film is romantic and even a bit of a fantasy, as things play out exactly as we hope they will (despite some narrative tension).  It is a beautiful autumn in France, somewhere in the south, a countryside winegrowing region, so the film basks in wonderful weather and picturesque surroundings.  The characters, too, are reaching the autumn of their lives (mid-forties!) and the film may resound especially for those of us in these middle years.  Isabelle (Marie Rivière) decides to find a new partner for her widowed friend Magali (Béatrice Romand), who seems a bit of a curmudgeon, focused only on her vineyard.  She puts a personal ad in the local newspaper for her.  At the same time, Magali’s son’s new girlfriend (Alexia Portal) hopes to match Magali with her philosophy professor (Didier Sandre) with whom she has had an affair herself.  When Isabelle finds Gérald (Alain Libolt), a possible suitor for Magali, there is suddenly competition for her attention.  It all comes to a head at Isabelle’s daughter’s wedding reception, held in the country garden at Isabelle and her husband’s estate.  All of these events and relationships are chewed over more or less realistically but it is the director’s nudging hand, pushing the characters in the right direction that makes the film so magical.  Somehow Rohmer manages to have both realism and a very orchestrated plot together at the same time.  Sheer delight!