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Pauline at the Beach
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| Year: |
1983
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Director: |
Eric Rohmer
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| Stars: |
Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory, Féodor Atkine, Simon de La Brosse, Rosette
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| Genre: |
Drama |
| Rating: |
  6 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Teenage Pauline (Amanda Langlet) has been taken on holiday by her older cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasle) as the summer draws to a close. Marion is recently divorced, and likes to play her marriage breakdown as making her worldly wise, as if it were not all bad and has given her a perspective on love which the younger girl cannot understand as yet. She asks Pauline if she has ever been in love, but she replies she has never had any serious feelings about the opposite sex even as Marion lightheartedly teases her, though the girl is about to be taught a few life lessons about the older generation...
And none too healthy lessons, either, in this, one of Eric Rohmer's series of films he termed "Comedies and Proverbs" (helpfully this comes up as part of the opening titles, in case you were wondering). To criticise Rohmer's works for being talky is beside the point as it is in the dialogue, rather than their actions, that the characters reveal themselves, but needless to say this features a host of scenes where the people simply sit around for a chinwag. Often described as witty, here Rohmer casts an understanding but disapproving eye over modern hypocrisies in the field of relationships.
A sort of love triangle emerges after Pauline and Marion venture down to the nearby beach and meet an old boyfriend of Marion's, Pierre (Pascal Greggory), who still carries a torch for her. The triangle is not between these three, but with Marion, Pierre and his friend Henri (Féodor Atkine), who is there with his daughter and likes to paint himself as a man of the world in a similar way that Marion likes to portray herself as someone who experience has taught a lot. But these pretentions are cruelly exposed by Rohmer the further into the story we get as we see they are kidding nobody but themselves.
Not even the supposedly naive Pauline is fooled as by and by she sees through their act and the manner in which these adults tie themselves in knots to justify some pretty obnoxious behaviour. Marion is a self-deluding fool who we suspect will never be satisfied emotionally because her standards are so high, in spite of the fact she will sleep around with anyone who catches her eye. Pierre is no less foolish, following after Marion like a lovesick puppy even though it's plain for anyone else to see she simply is not worth it, and Henri is nothing more than a lech, hanging on to his virility by playing the sophisticate to get impressionable women into bed.
Impressionable women like Marion, for example, who is another of his conquests and is dropped briefly so that Henri can sleep with another woman, leading to a tissue of lies when he makes up a story that the young chap Pauline has her eye on was with the other woman instead. Is it any wonder that once Pauline has worked out what is going on, she is disgusted? It'll be a miracle if she entirely trusts any adult again, after their subterfuges to justify their lusts are exposed: Henri even makes an attempt to seduce her while she sleeps one morning, marking him out as a first class creep. If we're supposed to be laughing at these folks, then you may find yourself feeling other emotions instead, such as infuriation. In the end, this does not make what is actually quite a sour film much fun and you'll be hoping that Pauline looks elsewhere for her role models - if she ever finds another. Music by Jean-Louis Valéro.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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| Eric Rohmer (1920 - 2010)
One of the directors of the French New Wave, Eric Rohmer, like his contemporaries, started his film career as a critic at the magazine Cahiers du Cinema, and after a few shorts made his first feature with Le signe du lion. My Night at Maud's was his first international hit, long after the other New Wave directors had made their initial impact, and set out his style as that of the "talk piece" where his characters, often young and middle class, conversed at great length in a way that exposed various truths about life as Rohmer saw them. His works were often grouped into cycles, and included Claire's Knee, Pauline at the Beach, Le Rayon Vert and his last, made when he was in his late eighties, The Romance of Astree and Celadon. |
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