Rohmer Film Series: THE GREEN RAY // ERIC ROHMER (1986) // FRANCE

Eric Rohmer and his heirs: A cinema of marivaudage

Eric Rohmer, one of the founders of the French New Wave, is mostly known for his delicate comedies of manners immersed in the very French notion of marivaudage (a literary writing style or type of conversation marked by extreme refinement and flirtatious banter). An architect of conversational cinema, where talking is a form of dramatic action, Rohmer has created a unique style—minimalist plots, characters facing moral choices, and the summer—as a surface on which life experiences and the meaning of love are being questioned. In this touching, funny, and spiritually-rich film series curated and introduced by filmmaker Diego Ongaro , we will watch one of Rohmer’s films as well as two contemporary works by filmmakers who have continued his legacy. 

• THE GREEN RAY // ERIC ROHMER (1986) // FRANCE, 98 MN

Starring Marie Rivière, María Luisa García, Vincent Gauthier

Eric Rohmer captures the ache of summertime sadness with exquisite poignancy in this luminous tale of self-exploration. Delphine (Marie Rivière), a dreamy, introverted young secretary who, reeling from a breakup with her boyfriend, faces the anxiety-inducing prospect of spending her summer vacation alone. As she bounces from a getaway in Cherbourg to the tourist-choked Alps to the sunny beaches of Biarritz, Delphine passes through a whirl of social activity—but through it all remains profoundly alone, searching for the true human connection that seems to perpetually elude her. As honest a portrait of loneliness, depression, and the longing for understanding as has ever been committed to film, The Green Ray stands as one of the most piercingly perceptive works by the French cinema’s keenest observer of human relationships.

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