Autumn Tale (Conte d’automne)

Part of the BAMcinématek series The Late Film

Thu, May 7 at 4:30, 6:50*, 9:30pm
*Introduction by novelist and film critic Jonathan Baumbach at 6:50pm screening, followed by a book signing of his recent novel, YOU or The Invention of Memory

Directed by Eric Rohmer
With Marie Rivière, Béatrice Romand

(1998) 112min

"This could be regarded as the crowning valedictory event of a 50-year career in filmmaking if the writer-director had not, happily, rejected the idea of retiring." —Andrew Sarris

“The most interesting thing about Rohmer is that he does so much, virtually everything, while seeming to do so little. Of his invisibly subtle, humane comedies of self-deception and misplaced affection, Autumn Tale seems to me the most haunting.” —Jonathan Baumbach

The last film in Rohmer’s quartet of the seasons concerns a middle-aged widow and vineyard owner quietly yearning for love (Beatrice Romand, reunited with Rohmer 30 years after Claire’s Knee). With friend Isabelle in the mix, a domino effect of matchmaking results.

With Le Lion volatile

Directed by Agnès Varda
With Julie Depardieu

(2003) 12min

Varda, the master of the short-form, shapes a romance in the shadow Lion de Belfort at Denfert-Rochereau, near her own home in the rue Daguerre.

This is May’s Curator’s Choice, a series of free screenings for members. Visit BAM Cinema Club for details.

Andrew Sarris on Autumn Tale
"Autumn Tale , the final installment in Mr. Rohmer's series, 'Tales of the Four Seasons,' takes this 79-year-old French ironic moralist into hitherto uncharted emotional and romantic realms of middle-aged longing for love and companionship without the loss of one's pride and privacy." More

New York Times on Autumn Tale
"...as sublimely warming an experience as the autumn sun that shines benevolently on the vineyard owned by the film's central character..." More

Village Voice on Autumn Tale
"Here is an auteur whose movies are as richly verbal as any stage play, as steeped in romantic complication as Edith Wharton, and, albeit less obviously so, as purely cinematic as those of his model, Alfred Hitchcock." More