[.ca] A Tale of Springtime

I don't regret watching this film...:
"A tale of Springtime" is part of Eric Rohmer's "Tales of the four seasons". It is an interesting film, but it is far from being excellent, at least in my opinion. The plot is not complicated. A philosophy teacher, Jeanne (Anne Teyssèdre), finds herself temporarily without a place to live, due to the fact that she has lent her apartment to a cousin, and also because she has no intention whatsoever of living in her boyfriend's house while he is on holidays. Fortunately, Jeanne meets Natacha (Florence Darel), a young woman that invites Jeanne to her home, arguing that it is a perfect solution for both, because she doesn't like to be alone. Truth to be told, Natacha shares her house with her father Igor (Hugues Quester), but he is almost never there, preferring to be with his young girlfriend, Eve (Eloïse Bennett). Not much happens during this film, apart from the fact that Natacha constantly tries to connect Jeanne with her father. All the same, I think you will enjoy the long conversations between the characters, and the beautiful countryside scenery. Is that enough to recommend "A tale of springtime"? I sincerely don't know, but I can say that I don't regret watching this film. Belen Alcat PS: By the way, my favorite film in "The tales of the four seasons" series is "A tale of winter".

A wonderfully entertaining French flick.:
Let me start by saying that if you don't like French flicks where there is no action and it's mostly just talking amongst the leads in a few different indoor/outdoor settings, then don't look here. However, if you find Eric Rohmer films, and French films that are very "talky" engaging, then this is one of the better ones. The leads in this films all give wonderful performances and while I don't like every Rohmer film, I liked this one a lot. Even though it is all talking throughout, the conversations and script kept me intrigued and I found the movie flew buy in a good way (normally talky pictures seem to drag on and on). The plot is basically a beautiful 18-year-old French girl (the redhead on the DVD cover) meets a late 20's/early 30's girl at a party where they are both bored and become friends. The 18-year-old despises her late 30's/early 40's father's girlfriend and believes that if she puts her new friend togther with her dad, he will fall for her and forget his fiancee. That's basically it but the characters keep you focused and quite interested on their simple interactions. The settings are plain, but rather nice-looking French decor. Even though it's a late 80's film, I didn't see much in it to make you think you were in that time frame. A film that looks very fresh today. Also, the MGM-World Films line does a much better job of the transfer than the rest of Rohmer's films, which are done by the folks at Fox/Lorber. The picture quality is far superior and you can change and remove the subtitles (unlike the Lorber films which are burned in).