Autumn Tale (1998)
May 12, 2023 11:17 AM - Subscribe
A widow's best friend tries to find her a new husband, but the ad posted in the newspaper attracts more than one possibility.
French vineyard owner Isabelle (Marie Rivière) loves her craft and finds support in her friendships, but she hasn't been in a serious relationship since her husband died. Magali (Béatrice Romand), one of her oldest and dearest friends, decides to secretly put out a personal ad for Isabelle, which yields charming bachelor Gerald (Alain Libolt). However, Magali initially poses as Isabelle in order to meet Gerald and ensure he's the right man, which leads to multiple misunderstandings.
Marjorie Baumgarten: Ultimately, it's not the “what” of what happens in the movie that's as important as the “how.” What we see is the casual beauty of these fortysomething women, the intrusive smokestacks of the power plants that loom always in the background, the elaborate happenstance that characterizes every exchange. These are the things that become manifest in Rohmer's world. Patience is rewarded with revelations.
Margaret A. McGurk: With Autumn Tale, the 79-year-old writer-director proves that age has only purified his special ability to mine emotional truth from tiny moments with exquisite finesse.
. . .
All this activity unwinds at a sweet, unhurried pace that comes as one of the movie’s many surprises. The effect is both relaxing and engaging, because Mr. Rohmer is every bit as interested in how people get from point to point as in where they are going.
It is likewise a pleasure to take time with these characters because Mr. Rohmer has made them so endearingly real; he treats them with fatherly affection even when their behavior is downright childish.
On its surface, Autumn Tale is a simple movie. But its simplicity is merely a tool to reveal the sophisticated, playful, compassionate love story that its creator set out to tell.
Roger Ebert: Eric Rohmer's "Autumn Tale," which tells this story, is the latest in a long, rich series of films by the perceptive French director, who tells stories about people we'd like to know, or be. His movies are about love, chance, life and coincidence; he creates plots that unfold in a series of delights, surprises and reversals. When there is a happy ending, it arrives as a relief, even a deliverance, for characters who spend much of the movie on the very edge of missing out on their chances for happiness.
Trailer
French vineyard owner Isabelle (Marie Rivière) loves her craft and finds support in her friendships, but she hasn't been in a serious relationship since her husband died. Magali (Béatrice Romand), one of her oldest and dearest friends, decides to secretly put out a personal ad for Isabelle, which yields charming bachelor Gerald (Alain Libolt). However, Magali initially poses as Isabelle in order to meet Gerald and ensure he's the right man, which leads to multiple misunderstandings.
Marjorie Baumgarten: Ultimately, it's not the “what” of what happens in the movie that's as important as the “how.” What we see is the casual beauty of these fortysomething women, the intrusive smokestacks of the power plants that loom always in the background, the elaborate happenstance that characterizes every exchange. These are the things that become manifest in Rohmer's world. Patience is rewarded with revelations.
Margaret A. McGurk: With Autumn Tale, the 79-year-old writer-director proves that age has only purified his special ability to mine emotional truth from tiny moments with exquisite finesse.
. . .
All this activity unwinds at a sweet, unhurried pace that comes as one of the movie’s many surprises. The effect is both relaxing and engaging, because Mr. Rohmer is every bit as interested in how people get from point to point as in where they are going.
It is likewise a pleasure to take time with these characters because Mr. Rohmer has made them so endearingly real; he treats them with fatherly affection even when their behavior is downright childish.
On its surface, Autumn Tale is a simple movie. But its simplicity is merely a tool to reveal the sophisticated, playful, compassionate love story that its creator set out to tell.
Roger Ebert: Eric Rohmer's "Autumn Tale," which tells this story, is the latest in a long, rich series of films by the perceptive French director, who tells stories about people we'd like to know, or be. His movies are about love, chance, life and coincidence; he creates plots that unfold in a series of delights, surprises and reversals. When there is a happy ending, it arrives as a relief, even a deliverance, for characters who spend much of the movie on the very edge of missing out on their chances for happiness.
Trailer
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posted by Carillon at 11:20 AM on May 12, 2023