Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World War II French New Wave directors to become established. He edited the influential film journal Cahiers du cinéma from 1957 to 1963, while most of his colleagues—among them Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut—were making the transition from critics to filmmakers and gaining international attention.
Rohmer gained international acclaim around 1969 when his film My Night at Maud's was nominated at the Academy Awards. He won the San Sebastián International Film Festival with Claire's Knee in 1971 and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Green Ray in 1986. In 2001, Rohmer received the Venice Film Festival's Career Golden Lion. After his death in 2010, his obituary in The Daily Telegraph called him "the most durable filmmaker of the French New Wave", outlasting his peers and "still making movies the public wanted to see" late in his career.
Early life
Rohmer was born Jean-Marie Maurice Schérer (or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer) in Nancy (also listed as Tulle), Meurthe-et-Moselle department, Lorraine, France, the son of Mathilde (née Bucher) and Lucien Schérer. Rohmer was a Catholic. He was secretive about his private life and often gave different dates of birth to reporters. He fashioned his pseudonym from the names of two famous artists: actor and director Erich von Stroheim and writer Sax Rohmer, author of the Fu Manchu series.
Career as a journalist
Rohmer first worked as a teacher There, Rohmer established himself as a critic with a distinctive voice; fellow Cahiers contributor and French New Wave filmmaker Luc Moullet later remarked that, unlike the more aggressive and personal writings of younger critics like Truffaut and Godard, Rohmer favored a rhetorical style that made extensive use of questions and rarely used the first person singular. Rohmer was known as more politically conservative than most of the Cahiers staff, and his opinions were highly influential on the magazine's direction while he was editor. Rohmer first published articles under his real name but began using "Éric Rohmer" in 1955 so that his family would not find out that he was involved in the film world, as they would have disapproved.
Film career
1950–1962: Shorts and early film career
In 1950 Rohmer made his first 16mm short film, Journal d'un scélérat. The film starred writer Paul Gégauff and was made with a borrowed camera. By 1951 Rohmer had a bigger budget provided by friends and shot the short film Présentation ou Charlotte et son steak. The 12-minute film was co-written by and starred Jean-Luc Godard. In 1962 Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder co-founded the production company Les Films du Losange (they were later joined by Pierre Coltrell in the late 1960s).
1962–1972: Six Moral Tales and television work
Rohmer's career began to gain momentum with his Six Moral Tales (Six contes moraux). Each of the films in the cycle follows the same story, inspired by F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927): a man, married or otherwise committed to a woman, is tempted by a second woman but eventually returns to the first.
For Rohmer, these stories' characters "like to bring their motives, the reasons for their actions, into the open, they try to analyze, they are not people who act without thinking about what they are doing. What matters is what they think about their behavior, rather than their behavior itself." The French word "moraliste" does not translate directly to the English "moralist" and has more to do with what someone thinks and feels. Rohmer cited the works of Blaise Pascal, Jean de La Bruyère, François de La Rochefoucauld and Stendhal as inspirations for the series. He clarified, "a moraliste is someone who is interested in the description of what goes on inside man. He's concerned with states of mind and feelings." The film's budget went only to film stock and renting a house in St. Tropez as a set. Rohmer described it as a film about l'amour par désoeuvrement ("love from idleness"). La Collectionneuse won the Jury Grand Prix at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival and was praised by French film critics, though US film critics called it "boring". The film centers on Pascal's Wager and stars Trintignant, Françoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault and Antoine Vitez. My Night at Maud's was Rohmer's first successful film both commercially and critically. It was screened and highly praised at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and later won the Prix Max Ophüls. It was released in the US and praised by critics there as well. It eventually received Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film.
Later in 1980 Rohmer embarked on a second series of films: the "Comedies and Proverbs" (Comédies et Proverbes), with each film based on a proverb. The first of these is The Aviator's Wife, which is based on an idea Rohmer had had since the mid-1940s. This was followed in 1981 by Le Beau Mariage (A Perfect Marriage). Rohmer said: "what interests me is to show how someone's imagination works. The fact that obsession can replace reality." Even though the protagonists are different from each other, all are shown over a one- to two-week period grappling with uncertainty and change. That seasons themselves are impermanent highlights the films' themes. This is most easily observable in films such as Pauline at the Beach and A Summer's Tale, which begin with their protagonists arriving and end with their protagonists leaving in the same manner in which they arrived.
Rohmer saw the full-face closeup as a device that does not reflect how we see each other and avoided it. He avoided non-diegetic music (music not from in-story sound sources), seeing it as breaking the fourth wall, but inserted occasional soundtrack music in The Green Ray. Rohmer also tended to spend considerable time in his films showing his characters going from place to place, walking, driving, bicycling or commuting on a train, conveying that mundane travel is part of the most people's days. This is most evident in (1982), in which the protagonist constantly travels, particularly between Paris and Le Mans.
Rohmer typically populates his films with people in their twenties and the settings are often on pleasant beaches and popular resorts, notably in La collectionneuse, Pauline at the Beach, The Green Ray, and A Summer's Tale. These films are immersed in bright sunlight, blue skies, green grass, sandy beaches, and clear water. He said: "people sometimes ask me why most of the main characters in my films are young. I don't feel at ease with older people ... I can't get people older than forty to talk convincingly."
Rohmer's characters engage in long conversations—mostly about man–woman relationships but also mundane issues like trying to find a vacation spot. Characters also occasionally digress on literature and philosophy; most of them are middle-class and well-educated.
A Summer's Tale has most of the elements of a typical Rohmer film: no soundtrack music, no closeups, a seaside resort, long conversations between beautiful, young, middle-class, educated people, and discussions of the characters' interests. Melvil Poupaud, who plays the protagonist, said that no other filmmaker could write dialogue like that and make it ring true.
Beginning in the late 1970s, during the production of Perceval le Gallois, Rohmer began to reduce the number of crew members on his films. He first dispensed with the script supervisor, then (controversially) cut out the assistant director, then all other assistants and technical managers until, by the time he shot The Green Ray in 1986, his crew consisted only of a camera operator and a sound engineer. On the set of A Summer's Tale, he even made the sandwiches himself. His work focuses on critiquing the French far-right.
Rohmer was a devout Catholic, monarchist, and "ecological zealot". after a series of strokes. He had been admitted to hospital the previous week.
The former Culture Minister Jack Lang called Rohmer "one of the masters of French cinema".
Legacy
Rohmer's depictions of Paris are the subject of Richard Misek's 2013 documentary Rohmer in Paris.
Éric Rohmer: A Biography, by and , was published in French in 2014 and English translation in 2016.
Marco Grosoli's 2018 book Eric Rohmer's Film Theory (1948–1953) analyzes and reevaluates Rohmer's early writings on cinema.
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Award
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Nominated work
! scope="col"| Result
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1967
| rowspan="3"| Berlin International Film Festival
| Golden Bear
| rowspan="3"| La Collectionneuse
|
|-
| Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize
|
|-
| Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People
|
|-
| 1969
| Cannes Film Festival
| Palme d'Or
| rowspan="7"| My Night at Maud's
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1970
| Academy Awards
| Best Foreign Language Film
|
|-
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
| Prix Méliès
|
|-
| National Society of Film Critics
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| Sant Jordi Awards
| Best Foreign Film
|
|-
| rowspan="7"| 1971
| Academy Awards
| Best Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced
|
|-
| New York Film Critics Circle Award
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| colspan="2"| Louis Delluc Prize
| rowspan="8"| Claire's Knee
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| National Society of Film Critics Awards
| Best Film
|
|-
| Best Director
|
|-
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| San Sebastián International Film Festival
| Golden Shell
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1972
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Foreign Film (Foreign Language)
|
|-
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
| Prix Méliès
|
|-
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1976
| rowspan="2"| Cannes Film Festival
| Palme d'Or
| rowspan="3"| The Marquise of O
|
|-
| Grand Prix
|
|-
| 1977
| National Society of Film Critics Award
| Best Director
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1979
| rowspan="2"| Valladolid International Film Festival
| Golden Spike
| rowspan="3"| Perceval le Gallois
|
|-
| Honorable Mention
|
|-
| 1980
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
| Prix Méliès
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 1983
| César Awards
| Best Original Screenplay
| Le Beau Mariage
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| Berlin International Film Festival
| Golden Bear
| rowspan="6"| Pauline at the Beach
|
|-
| Silver Bear for Best Director
|
|-
| FIPRESCI Prize
|
|-
| OCIC Award – Honorable Mention
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1984
| Boston Society of Film Critics Award
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
| Prix Méliès
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1985
| rowspan="3"| César Awards
| Best Film
| rowspan="4"| Full Moon in Paris
|
|-
| Best Director
|
|-
| Best Original Screenplay
|
|-
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
| Prix Méliès
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1986
| rowspan="3"| Venice Film Festival
| Golden Lion
| rowspan="3"| The Green Ray
|
|-
| FIPRESCI Prize
|
|-
| Golden Ciak
|
|-
| 1988
| César Awards
| Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation
| Boyfriends and Girlfriends
|
|-
| 1990
| David di Donatello
| Luchino Visconti Award
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1992
| rowspan="3"| Berlin International Film Festival
| Golden Bear
| rowspan="3"| A Tale of Winter
|
|-
| FIPRESCI Prize
|
|-
| Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention
|
|-
| 1995
| Chicago International Film Festival
| Best Feature
| Rendezvous in Paris
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1998
| rowspan="3"| Venice Film Festival
| Golden Lion
| rowspan="5"| Autumn Tale
|
|-
| Golden Osella for Best Original Screenplay
|
|-
| Sergio Trasatti Award – Special Mention
|
|-
| 1999
| National Society of Film Critics
| Best Foreign Language Film
|
|-
| 2000
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
| Best Foreign Language Film
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2001
| European Film Awards
| Best Director
| The Lady and the Duke
|
|-
| Venice Film Festival
| Career Golden Lion
|
|
|-
| 2004
| Berlin International Film Festival
| Golden Bear
| Triple Agent
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2007
| colspan="2"| Louis Delluc Prize
| rowspan="3"| The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Venice Film Festival
| Golden Lion
|
|-
| Queer Lion
|
|}
Filmography
Directed features
- The Sign of Leo (1962)
- The Collector (1967)
- My Night at Maud's (1969)
- Claire's Knee (1970)
- Love in the Afternoon (1972)
- The Marquise of O (1976)
- Perceval le Gallois (1978)
- Catherine de Heilbronn (1980, television film)
- The Aviator's Wife (1981)
- A Good Marriage (1982)
- Pauline at the Beach (1983)
- Full Moon in Paris (1984)
- The Green Ray (1986)
- Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
- Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
- Le trio en mi bémol (1988)
- A Tale of Springtime (1990)
- A Tale of Winter (1992)
- The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque (1993)
- Rendezvous in Paris (1995)
- A Summer's Tale (1996)
- Autumn Tale (1998)
- The Lady and the Duke (2001)
- Triple Agent (2004)
- The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007)
Bibliography
- Élisabeth (1947; published in English in 2026)
- Hitchcock (1957, with Claude Chabrol; published in English as Hitchcock: the First Forty-four Films in 1979)
- Six Contes Moraux (1975; published in English as Six Moral Tales in 1980)
- L' Organisation de l'Espace dans le Faust de Murnau (1977)
- Goût de la beauté (1984; published in English as The Taste of Beauty in 1990)
Notes
References
Bibliography
- de Baecque, Antoine and Herpe, Noël. Éric Rohmer. Stock. 2014. .
- Montero, José Francisco & Paredes, Israel. Imágenes de la Revolución. La inglesa y el duque/La commune (París, 1871). 2011. Shangrila Ediciones. https://web.archive.org/web/20140421082451/http://shangrilaedicionesblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/imagenes-de-la-revolucion-intertextos.html
- Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist (Midland: 22 June 1988)
External links
- extensive biography of Eric Rohmer
- Éric Rohmer — critical essay at Kamera
- Interview with 'The French Revolutionary - Eric Rohmer
- Tom Milne Obituary: Eric Rohmer, The Guardian, 11 January 2010
- Christopher Hawtree "Eric Rohmer: Prolific film-maker, critic and novelist whose pioneering work homed in on romantic tangles", The Independent, 13 January 2010
- "Eric Rohmer: director whose films included Le genou de Claire", The Times, 12 January 2010
- "On Eric Rohmer" in memoriam from n+1
- "The Grave of Eric Rohmer (Maurice Scherer), Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris."