"Kind of like watching paint dry"

Gene Hackman in the film Night Moves (Arthur Penn 1975) famously said watching an Éric Rohmer film is “kind of like watching paint dry.” I burst out laughing. Since I know Rohmer is not everyone’s cup of tea or even espresso, quite the opposite! But I have long loved Rohmer’s films. What do people dislike/hate about a Rohmer film? It’s static, slow-moving quality, the focus on characters’ quotidian activities, the subtleties in plot (if there is one), characters’ obsessions, and contradictions, even foolishness. But those are exactly why I love his films. In the hands of many another director these techniques wouldn’t work; I’d probably fall asleep at the first instant. But with Rohmer we’re dealing with a master who captures the way human beings really are in their daily lives. Travelling on a train, meeting a friend for lunch, a family gathering in the countryside, all are rich experiences so long as the director enables the subject matter to emit the intricate personality traits, psychological conundrums and romantic desires that may or may not be requited. Yes, these are “talky” films with scenes going on some time, say, between two characters, as they gabble on about their careers, loves, aspirations and everyday existence. But isn’t that how you spend your days? Perhaps it’s also the type of characters depicted. They’re almost universally young, college-educated and middle class, something I can identify with and which takes me back to many a college day or night sitting around and, well, just talking. Rohmer was one of the great French New Wave directors along with Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut. He was definitely an eccentric, highly secretive and hated modernism, denouncing, for example, automobiles which he refused to travel in. So you can see how he would focus to the extreme on subtle details, on the seeming nothingness of daily existence which ultimately adds up to life’s fabric, which we all experience. For starters I’d suggest his Four Seasons films (a scene from A Tale of Springtime above) and then some from his Comedies and Proverbs series, which seem to have influenced a director like Woody Allen. His most famous film is Claire's Knee, about a man obsessed with, yes, a woman's knee. Check him out and you’ll either love it or throw something at your screen (don’t break it) in disgust.