Movie of the Week#3: My Night at Maud's (1969), Eric Rohmer

My Night at Maud's (Ma Nuit Chez Maud, France, 1969). Directed and Writed by Eric Rohmer. cinematography by Nestor Almendros. Edited by CÉCILE DECUGIS. Production design by Nichole Rachline.. Cast: Jean-Louis Trintgnant, François Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault, Antoine Vitez, Léonide Kogan, Guy Léger, Anne Dubot, Marie Becker.

       Jean-Louis (Trintignant) is a Catholic who moves to the province and is touched by a young woman who perceives in the church, Françoise (Barrault), with whom believes he should marry. One day he meets a friend he had not seen for 14 years, Vidal (Vitez), who presents him to Maud (Fabian), a charming divorced woman. Divided between reason, which makes him believe in the fidelity of love and the belief that Françoise, even as a Catholic, is the woman to marry and the desire for Maud, he initially does not make a decision. However, when he meets Françoise occasionally, he makes an appointment with her, who, although very fond of him, still resents the love of a new relationship. Years later, Jean-Louis, married to Françoise and with a son, casually re-encounters Maud on the beach.

       The most famous - perhaps with Claire's Knee (1970) - of the cycle of six films that Rohmer called Moral Tales. The strength of the film lies primarily in the dialogues, something that is quite common in Rohmer's filmography, but it still gets more accentuated here, given the much longer sequences that occur in indoors conversations. As usual, Rohmer demonstrates the difficult balance between a moral purpose firmly espoused by a character and his actions. As it is no longer uncommon in his work, the moral dramas lived by the characters are only presented, and not subjectively experienced, with the motto of a thinker - here, Pascal - to which they oppose or approach. Even when it makes use of a narration in the voice of the protagonist, this does not do more than affirm some very objective information, as the certainty that he would marry Françoise. Unlike Godard , the universe of his films remains practically untouched, either in formal terms or in terms of historical reference, by the political-student events that marked France at the end of the decade. Featuring the beauty of the black & white photography by Almendros, habitual collaborator of Truffaut, and  the young Barrault in its early career. FFD / Les Films de La Plêiade / Les Films de Deux Mondes / Les Films du Carrose / Les Films du Carrose/Les Filmes du Losange/Les Productions de la Guéville/Renn Productions/Simar Films/SFP/The World Ent. 110 minutes.

Postado originalmente em português em 17/12/2015