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AN AUTUMN TALE (CONTE D'AUTOMNE)
Eric Rohmer, France, 1998
3 September 2002 10.30pm-12.20am; rpt 6 September 11.30pm-1.20am
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This is the culmination of Eric Rohmer's Four Season's cycle and the most critically acclaimed of the quartet.
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The widowed Magali (Béatrice Romand) may be charismatic and intelligent but her friends fear that by isolating herself she will never find a new love. Therefore, two of them secretly attempt to set her up with an eligible bachelor, but as no one is aware of the various machinations they appear doomed to end in ignominious calamity.
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One of those unsentimental films to which people become sentimentally attached
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Rohmer was one of the founding fathers of French New Wave Cinema but here he approaches old-style romantic comedy, peppering the proceedings with humorous misunderstandings, mishaps and some wonderfully staged comic set pieces. However, the director was 79 when he shot An Autumn Tale and it is burnished with the wisdom of experience. The middle-aged Magali is aware, for example, that "At my age it's easier to find buried treasure" than a suitable man, but this simply makes the film's central quest more engaging.
In the same way that It's Wonderful Life works because Capra concedes that the movie's title is not always true, this particular tale is ultimately more uplifting because of the everyday trials its central characters face. In short, it's one of those unsentimental films to which people become sentimentally attached.
In 2001 Rohmer was awarded a prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his overall filmography. It was recognition of an auteur who creates works that celebrate the lives of ordinary people in ordinary situations without ever becoming patronising or mawkish. An Autumn Tale is a supreme example of this, brimming with all the elements that typically enrich his work: realistic, compelling dialogue, finely observed characterisation and inspired use of location. In cinematic terms it does not represent his greatest film, but it remains one of his most accessible and enjoyable - an Autumn tale, but a perennial favourite.
Gavin Collinson
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