Six Moral Tales and Beyond: Stories by French New Wave Filmmaker Éric Rohmer

Description

Éric Rohmer is best remembered for the three film series he produced between 1963 and 1998. This retrospective will screen the first of these series, entitled Six Moral Tales. Each tale is inspired by German film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Sunrise (1927)—which is considered by critics to be one of the most significant films ever made—and tells the story of a married or committed man who is tempted by a second woman but eventually returns to the first woman.

Screenings include Rohmer’s first moral tale, The Girl at the Monceau Bakery (1962), a vivacious portrait of a young man whose romantic interest swings between a stylish lady he spots on the street and a bakery girl he casually courts when his love target is out of sight. In this film, Rohmer tells the tale through the protagonist’s visual mind and oral narration. Observing the main character from an ironic distance, Rohmer exposes his conceit and arrogance. This juxtaposition of the narrator’s thought and the camera’s view would become Rohmer’s signature style.

Apart from the six moral tales, this retrospective will also screen Rohmer’s film debut, The Sign of Leo (1962), the film The Marquise of O (1972), and host a free post-screening talk, conducted in Cantonese, on the moral tales.