What's in a Title? The Films of Éric Rohmer Quiz

Answer: The Sign of Leo

When Pierre gets a telegram saying his rich aunt has died, he throws a party on money borrowed from his journalist pal Jean-Francois (the one who finds him later), during which he explains his theory of riches or ruin, and his luck at being born under the sign of Leo, hence the title. Oddly, Pierre is an American but everybody calls him Pierre. Like in many French films, the fact that so many foreigners speak such good French is something one has to overlook.

Although "The Sign of Leo" sits comfortably with other early New Wave French films, it sticks out like a sore thumb in Rohmer's oeuvre. One of the reasons is the dialogue (written by Paul Gégauff) which lacks Rohmer's talent for making conversations sound like real conversations, despite their erudition.

The film wasn't a commercial success and Rohmer didn't make another feature film until 1967.

The red herrings all came out in 1959: "The 400 Blows" is François Truffaut's feature film debut, "Pickpocket" is Robert Bresson's fifth feature film, and "Room at the Top" is a British film based on John Braine's novel.

Answer: The Collector

Adrien declines a trip to London with his girlfriend in order to have a complete break. Early on in the film Adrien picks up "The Complete Works of Rousseau" and asks Daniel if he can borrow it. When Adrien is talking to Daniel about his need for idleness and the following dialogue takes place:

Daniel: "Reading isn't doing nothing."
Adrien: "If I didn't read, I'd think. And thinking is the hardest, most demanding thing one can do. One always thinks too much.... I'm not looking for anything. If I come across a Rousseau, I read Rousseau, but I could just as well read 'Don Quixote'."

Monsieur Rohmer's choice of book can have been by no means as casual considering the themes of freedom and revolution that run through the film. The two males' hifalutin' chat makes scant impression on Haydée though. At the end of the film, Haydée meets some friends who urge her to ditch Adrien and go off with them. While she procrastinates, Adrien drives off. Despite feeling liberated initially, he becomes bored and fidgety. He books a flight to London.

Apparently, the success of "The Collector" (1967) came as much of a surprise to Rohmer as anybody since he had seen it as a low budget time-filler while things were on hold for his next film, "My Night At Maud's". Actually, much of the film's charm comes from its outward simplicity, which is apparently thanks to intense rehearsals and the crew paying special attention to getting everything spot-on first time round.

However, beneath the film's simplicity of execution sits an intricate web of tense relationships, battles of ego, and attempts at manipulation. It ushers in one of the main themes in Rohmer's work: the threat to male chauvinism from women's sexual freedom. Throughout the film both the male characters try to justify their behaviour with pretentious, pseudo-philosophic discourse and are openly hostile towards Haydée, who is unruffled by all the posturing. Haydée is actually the only character to speak honestly about her sexuality; when she is accused of being a "collector of lovers" (hence the film's title) by Adrien, she replies she is "searching" and that she has never really had a lover yet.

All the red herrings came out in 1967: French film "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" was directed by Jean-Luc Godard, "The Dirty Dozen" is an American World War II film directed by Robert Aldrich which stars Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas, and "In the Heat of the Night" won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Answer: My Night at Maud's

The unnamed man was played brilliantly by Jean-Louis Trintignant, and although he is often referred to as Jean-Louis in literature about the film, his name is never mentioned during the actual film.

The film is set in the mountainous town of Clermont-Ferrand at Christmas time. The French mathematician/philosopher Blaise Pascal, a native of Clermont-Ferrand, is a recurring theme in the film since Vidal, a philosophy lecturer, is enamoured with Pascal's work. One of the other main themes is marriage since "Jean-Louis" is a devout Catholic who believes adamantly in the institution of marriage, whereas atheist Maud is a divorcée mother whose marriage broke down partly because both partners had lovers. "Jean-Louis" admits he's had numerous lovers but justifies his actions (even though he's against promiscuity) since each girl forced him to face different moral questions and shook him from "moral lethargy". Maud repeatedly jibes him about his being in love with a blonde, good Catholic girl (she's guessing), but he vehemently denies it.

"My Night at Maud's" is the fourth in Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series and the most leaden with philosophical/theological discourse, but he somehow manages to keep the spectator involved and make the scholarly banter sound convincing.

The red herrings were all released in 1969: "The Milky Way" was directed by Luis Buñuel, British film "Kes" was directed by Ken Loach, and "Midnight Cowboy" was directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.

Answer: Claire's Knee

"Claire's Knee" is the fifth in Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series (the third full-length feature), and it almost perfectly illustrates Rohmer's brilliance: literary-yet-convincing dialogue, a fabulous-yet-unobtrusive setting, suave-yet-repulsive male leads, and the fascination with conflicts such as male/female, young/old, naïveté/experience.

The casting for "Claire's Knee" was spot-on with Jean-Claude Brialy playing the attractive/repulsive Jerome, and Béatrice Romand as Laura. The setting was Lake Annecy in the Rhône-Alpes region. Most of the action takes place the lakeside with Jerome toing and froing in his motor boat, although he and 15-year-old Laura do take a jaunt into the hills, which is where he tries to lead her into petting. The fact that the inappropriate shenanigans are all orchestrated by middle-aged Aurora, ostensibly as a potential plot for a story she wants to write, makes it all the more cringeworthy.

When Jerome develops the fetish for Claire's knee, which he longs to touch, youngster Laura is visibly appalled at first, but then any infatuation she had for this fool goes up like a puff of smoke aand she almost laughs at him. He does eventually get to touch Claire's knee.

All the red herrings were released in 1970: "The Ball of Count Orgel" is a French film directed by Marc Allégret which stars Jean-Claude Brialy, Roman Polanski wrote the screenplay for "A Day at the Beach", which stars Peter Sellers, and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" was directed by Russ Meyer.

Answer: Love in the Afternoon

"Love in the Afternoon" is the last of the "Six Moral Tales" series and carries on themes already looked at in Rohmer's films. This time the female character confusing the heck out of the male is Chloé , a much more aggressive, 1970s, liberated woman who walks, talks and dresses tough. Accordingly, Frédéric is sappier than the males in previous Rohmer films in which chauvinistic men try to deal with women. Whereas previous characters grappled with intellectualism, philosophy and/or aesthetics, Frédéric just fantasizes about having a magnetic device that would destroy women's free will allowing him to "exercise its powers on the women who pass the café, indifferent, hurried, hesitant, busy, accompanied, lonely." Interestingly, the women who pass by are played by actresses from previous "Moral Tales" features.

Chloé was played by actress/model/singer Zouzou (real name Danièle Ciarlet) who had flings with both the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones and The Kinks' Dave Davies.

"I Think I Love My Wife" is a 2007 remake of "Love in the Afternoon" which stars Chris Rock. "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is a 1972 film by Luis Buñuel. "Last Tango in Paris" by Bernardo Bertolucci was also released in 1972.

Answer: The Aviator's Wife

"The Aviator's Wife" is the first in a series of six films called "Comedies and Proverbs" which Rohmer made after three literary adaptations of varying quality. Each "Comedies and Proverbs" film begins with a proverb, in this case: "On ne saurait penser a rien/One can't think of nothing".

The film carries on many of the themes investigated in Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series, but things here are slightly more complex. The male lead, François, is a pathetic, emasculated, desperate fusspot whose obsessive possessiveness is unattractive even to 15-year-old schoolgirl Lucie, who openly teases him. The other male, Christian, doesn't seem to be going through the moral crisis seen by previous Rohmerian philanderers, and he seems to make the simple, practical decision to honour his marriage since his quasi-affair has become risky. Anne is struggling with trying her best to be fiercely independent, but she really just wants Christian.

When talking about the film, Rohmer said it was born of a love of Paris and a desire to treat filming the streets of Paris with the discipline of filming in a studio. A major scene in the film was shot in Parc des Buttes Chaumont, a highly artificial environment which Rohmer had already used in his short film "Nadja à Paris" in 1964.

All the red herrings came out in 1981: "Possession" is a French horror film directed by Andrzej Żuławski. "Ms. 45", aka "Angel of Vengeance", is an American exploitation film directed by Abel Ferrara, and "Chariots of Fire" won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Answer: A Good Marriage

Second in the "Comedies and Proverbs" sextet, "A Good Marriage" starts with a Jean de La Fontaine quote: "Quel esprit ne bat la campagna? Qui ne fait chateaux en Espagne/Can any of us refrain from building castles in Spain?" What I really like about this film is that the overbearing male leads have fallen into the background and here it's simply Sabine getting it all wrong on her own. Edmond really has little to do with it and doesn't lead her on at all. Furthermore, the real conflict here isn't male/female but social class (or, "milieu"), and although Sabine is painfully aware of this, she steams ahead anyway.

Sabine is played brilliantly by Béatrice Romand, her third appearance in a Rohmer film. When talking about the making of the film, Rohmer states how important it is for actors to get their own natural rhythm when delivering lines and how he rarely directs them in this. When talking about Romand's speech he says how much he likes her very slow delivery which lends itself to films where it's so important for the viewer to understand absolutely everything said.

About the red herrings: "A Happy Divorce" (1975) features André Dussollier, who plays Edmond in "A Good Marriage". "Querelle" and "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" were also released in 1982. The former was German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's last film and the latter was Woody Allen's homage to Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night".

Answer: Full Moon in Paris

Most Rohmer films feature a scene where the characters are dancing, and "Full Moon in Paris" has two. The first is at a party Louise has gone to, which Rémi turns up at unexpectedly. While Louise dances badly to crappy Europop, Rémi stands around awkwardly, feeling abandoned. Whoever we look at it's painful to watch! The second dancing scene is another party where Louise hooks up with Bastien, with whom she is unfaithful to Rémi. After this disappointing liaison, Louise can't sleep and goes to a café around dawn where she meets a man who can't sleep either. He's a kids' books illustrator and has been sitting there drawing all night. He tells her the restless night is all due to the full moon, hence the film's title.

The reclusive Rohmer spoke about trying to get invited to a socialite party so he could observe the dynamics of such a soirée, but he couldn't so he just invited lots of socialites to the party shoot and asked them to do what they usually would and he filmed it.

"Full Moon in Paris" is the fourth in the "Comedies and Proverbs" series, and it opens with the words "Qui a deux femmes perd son ame, qui a deux maisons perd sa raison/ He who has two women loses his soul. He who has two houses loses his mind". In this case it's Louise who's striving for too much but who ends up high and dry as when she gets home, Rémi tells her he's fallen in love with Marianne (who, in a cruel twist of fate, he had met at the first party) and reminds Louise that she had rather patronizingly told him she would "step aside" if he found a woman who "would want to be with you constantly".

All the red herrings came out in 1984: "Suburbia" was directed by Penelope Spheeris and focuses on punks who run away from home, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is based on George Orwell's dystopian classic novel, and "A Private Function" is a British comedy written by Alan Bennett.

Answer: The Green Ray

Delphine is frustrated at being single around couples, but can't stand the inanities of courtship either, so she spends quite a lot of the film crying. Anyone who has ever felt like a lemon will immediately recognize Delphine's misery, so deftly captured by Rohmer.

Rohmer spoke a lot about the attention he paid to sets, props and costume, in particular regarding colour. Much of "The Green Ray" is set in a natural environment, so Rohmer picked out a lot of red garments to set off the country greenery or blue/green of the sea, like a painter would. He really goes to town on the green theme but with crafty subtlety: in café/train station décor, on a flyer Delphine reads, in all the talk of Ireland, in Delphine's quasi-vegan vegetarianism and talk of the environment.

Many of Rohmer's films revolve around coincidences, but in "The Green Ray" the theme of the supernatural and superstition (black cat, tarot cards, the flyer for a séance) makes us wonder if Rohmer might be talking about fate after all.

"The Green Ray"'s title comes from a novel of the same name written by Jules Verne which Delphine overhears being discussed by a group of old folk at the seaside. It deals with the natural yet rarely seen phenomena of a flash of green right at the end of sunset. At the end of the film Delphine, alongside her possible future boyfriend, witnesses the green ray and this seems significant to Delphine.

All the red herrings came out in 1986: "Betty Blue" was directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and stars Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade, "The Golden Child" stars Eddie Murphy, "Under the Cherry Moon" stars and was directed by Prince.

Answer: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

The settings of Rohmer's films always play an important role, but never quite so much as Newtown Cergy does in "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend". Lea is vocally unimpressed with the Newtown she calls a "barracks", while Blanche sings its praises calling it a "palace". Alexandre, who has a high-flying executive position, is less candid and mockingly comments: "15 TV channels, a lake, tennis courts, a golf course soon, who could be bored?" As the film progresses it becomes clear that Fabien loves the artificial park and lake (for windsurfing), whereas Lea wants to be back in her native Paris. The final scene of the film has Rohmer go the whole hog with his colour-coded costumes and has green-clad Alexandre draping his arm over blue-clad Lea, and blue-clad Fabien with his arm on green-clad Blanche's shoulder.

Lea was played by Sophie Renoir, great-granddaughter of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and daughter of film director Claude Renoir, the latter one of Rohmer and other New Wave directors' heroes.

"My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" is the last in Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" series. The opening proverb is "Les amis de mes amis sont mes amis/My friends' friends are my friends." It was by no means Rohmer's last film though; he went on to make a further eleven feature films before dying in 2010, aged 89.

All the red herrings came out in 1987: "Under the Sun of Satan" was directed by Maurice Pialat and it won the Palme d'Or prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, "Fatal Attraction" is an American thriller which stars Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, and "The Belly of an Architect" was written and directed by British director Peter Greenaway.