La Femme de l’aviateur (1980) - film review

A postal worker, François, is about to visit his girlfriend, Anne, early one morning, when he sees another man leaving her apartment.  When she is confronted by François later that day, Anne tells him nothing about the incident.  In fact, the mysterious man was one of Anne’s former lovers, an airline pilot named Christian, who only visited her to say goodbye after deciding to return to his pregnant wife.  François later glimpses Christian walking in the park with another woman, and he decides to follow them.  On the way, he meets a 15 year old schoolgirl, Lucie, with whom he strikes up an immediate friendship.  Together they set out to solve the mystery of the well-dressed stranger...

The first in Eric Rohmer’s series Comédies et proverbes is this enchanting portrait of love, jealousy and suspicion.  As in most of Rohmer’s works, the characters are excellently well drawn and beautifully interpreted by his actors.  The stubborn possessiveness of François contrasts with the casual attitudes of the two women he spends the time with in this film.

Lucie, a school girl, flirts with François, although it is clear nothing serious is going to develop.  Likewise Anne only appears to need François to comfort her in her moments of depression, and is quite irritated by his unwelcome attentions.  There is a sense of post-modern irony here, with the hard-working man looking for commitment from laid-back women who appear to consider men as little more than accessories to their otherwise complete lives.

Those who appreciate Rohmer’s gentle comedies will certainly appreciate this film, which is one of his most playful and entertaining.  As ever, the script is excellently written, displaying Rohmer’s ability to communicate with his unique style of lucidity and spontaneity.

One striking aspect of the film is the way Rohmer uses his surroundings to emphasise the mood of his characters.  An overcast morning brightens up into a sunny afternoon, which soon fades to an increasingly melancholic evening – influencing the mood of his audience, not just his characters in the film.  It is device which Rohmer uses in many of his films, most famously in his captivating Four Seasons cycle of the 1990s.

© James Travers 2001

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