What it’s about
Elegant Parisian student Mirabelle (Forde) meets country girl Reinette (Miquel) while on holiday and they become friends. A budding artist, Reinette moves to Paris to share Mirabelle’s apartment and study painting. As Reinette experiences city life, her naïve, trusting ways clash with Mirabelle’s somewhat blasé sophistication. The two girls discuss- and differ on- issues of art, charity and ethics in a variety of scenic settings.
Why we love it
Rohmer’s trademark style is very much in evidence here: long, uninterrupted takes of hyper-articulate characters unfold in natural settings with an observational camera. The film is divided into four distinct chapters that vary from pastoral and poetic to philosophical and comic. Laudenbach has fun skewering the cliché of a rude street café waiter, and Luchini is memorable as a pretentious art gallery owner. This undervalued Rohmer work-shot just before his iconic “Summer”-warrants discovery and debate!