A Tale of Springtime [Conte de printemps] **** (1990, Anne Teyssèdre, Hugues Quester, Florence Darel) – Classic Movie Review 9464

Writer-director Éric Rohmer’s subtle and appealing 1990 French film A Tale of Springtime [Conte de printemps] stars Anne Teyssèdre, Hugues Quester and Florence Darel. It is a typical but high level Rohmer film casting a twinkling beady eye on love, life, joy and the pursuit of happiness, and the mad, quirky, haphazard unpredictability of it all.

It is the first of Rohmer’s four Tales of the Four Seasons [Contes des quatre saisons] followed by A Winter’s Tale (1992), A Summer’s Tale (1996) and Autumn Tale (1998).

Anne Teyssèdre stars as young lycée philosophy teacher Jeanne, who goes to a housewarming party, where she meets Natacha, a music student of her own age studying to become a pianist. They become fast friends and Natacha invites Jeanne to her home, and lets her use the bedroom of her father, who is always with his young girlfriend Eve (Eloïse Bennett). But, when the father, Igor (Hugues Quester), stops by next morning to pick up his clothes, he is surprised to find Jeanne just out of a shower.

Also in the cast are Eloïse Bennett, Sophie Robin, Marc Lelou and François Lamore.

A Tale of Springtime [Conte de printemps] is directed by Éric Rohmer, runs 112 minutes, is made by Compagnie Eric Rohmer, Investimage and Les Films du Losange, is released by Les Films du Losange (1990) (France) and Artificial Eye (UK), is written by Eric Rohmer, is shot by Luc Pagès, is produced by Margaret Ménégoz, is scored by Jean-Louis Valero.

It was released in France on 4 April 1990.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9464

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com