Despite Éric Rohmer (1920-2010) being older by a decade than Nouvelle Vague peers such as Truffaut and Godard, a focus on the editorship of Cahiers du Cinéma in the crucial years between 1957 and 1963 meant that he, along with the slow-burning Rivette, was among the last of the group to establish himself as a director. Even among an association of like-minded individuals whose films were so informed by their love of literature, Rohmer’s work is distinctive for its auteur’s approach. His films can be grouped according to his exploration of variations on a theme. Whether in ‘Six Moral Tales’ or ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’, what interests Rohmer is using the medium to approach similar issues from different angles. This is not to say that the films are directly connected or that his overall body of work cannot be dipped into. Rather, although each film is a discrete entity that can be watched and enjoyed on its own merits, for those who have seen multiple ‘chapters’, each variation not only invites comparisons but adds layers of rich complexity to the behaviours and outcomes depicted.
