THE AVIATOR'S WIFE

La Femme de L'Aviateur

Director Eric Rohmer / 1981 / France

A young boy, Francois, working during the night, loves Anne who works in daytime. They never see one another. He gets into a fight with Anne because he saw her going out one morning with an aviator. Francois is sad. Instead of going to bed in the afternoon, he wanders about the streets and suddenly sees the aviator with a young woman, sitting outside a cafe. He follows them to a park where he meets a schoolgirl, Lucie.,/p>

Eric Rohmer is one of the major figures of the French cinema, first as an influential critic on Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s and then as the director of such films as My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, Love in the Afternoon, The Marquise of O and Perceval.,/i> His new film is the first in a series called "Comedies and Proverbs" and in it he returns to the first principles of the French New Wave, low budgets, location shooting, films about young people and semi-improvized dialogue. This is a refreshing return to filmmaking methods that captivated a generation and the fact that they are being undertaken by a director now in his sixties indicates that sprightly, innovative and truthful films can be made with the slimmest of means. There is a lesson for all filmmakers here; there is also great delight for all filmgoers.

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