A Winter’s Tale [A Tale of Winter] [Conte d’hiver] **** (1992, Charlotte Véry, Frédéric van den Driessche, Michel Voletti, Hervé Furic) – Classic Movie Review 9463

Writer-director Eric Rohmer’s 1992 A Winter’s Tale [A Tale of Winter] [Conte d’hiver] is his beguiling Tale of the Four Seasons about a pretty young hairdresser called Félicie (Charlotte Véry), who has a holiday romance with Charles (Frédéric van den Driessche) but loses her lover when she goes back to Paris and has his baby.

Living with her mother in cold Paris, Félicie desperately hopes that he will return. She gives up the young, intellectual and new man-ish Parisian librarian Loic (Hervé Furic) and flirts with the middle aged hairdresser Maxence (Michel Voletti), who offers her a new life in a provincial town.

A Winter’s Tale [Conte d’hiver] is an extremely skillfully made film, perceptive and wise on the foibles of love and relationships, with an attractively unusual view of people. The young hairdresser is seen not as annoying and obstinate, but as a heroine to be commended – and rewarded – for her belief that to travel hopefully is to travel well.

The performances of the star Charlotte Véry and her three leading men (Michel Voletti, Frédéric van den Driessche, Hervé Furic) are spot on. Also in the good cast are Ava Loraschi, Christiane Desbois, Rosette, Jean-Luc Revol, Haydée Caillot, Jean-Claude Biette, Marie Rivière and Roger Dumas.

It is the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992.

A Winter’s Tale [A Tale of Winter] [Conte d’hiver] is directed by Eric Rohmer, runs 114 minutes, is made by Compagnie Eric Rohmer, Les Films du Losange, Canal+, Investimage and Sofiarp, is released by Les Films du Losange (1992) (France) and Artificial Eye (UK), is written by Eric Rohmer, is shot by Luc Pagès, is produced by Margaret Ménégoz, is scored by Sébastien Erms.

A Winter’s Tale is the second of Éric Rohmer’s four Tales of The Four Seasons, preceded by A Tale of Springtime and followed by A Summer’s Tale (1996) and Autumn Tale (1998).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9463

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