| Pauline at the Beach | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Éric Rohmer |
| Produced by | Margaret Ménégoz |
| Written by | Éric Rohmer |
| Starring | Amanda Langlet |
| Cinematography | Néstor Almendros |
| Editing by | Cécile Decugis |
| Release date(s) | 23 March 1983 |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Pauline at the Beach (French: Pauline à la plage) is a 1983 French film directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory and Féodor Atkine.
Contents |
The film opens on a shot of a wooden gate, as a car pulls up in front of it. Teenage Pauline (Amanda Langlet) gets out of the car to open the gate, as her older cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasle) drives inside their family's vacation home on the north-western coast of France. As the girls settle in to their trip, Marion quizzes Pauline on her love life, and Pauline confesses that she has not had any serious affairs of the heart.
On the beach, Marion spies her ex-lover Pierre (Pascal Greggory). As they are getting reacquainted, a middle-aged man named Henri (Féodor Atkine) approaches and scolds Pierre for abandoning their windsurfing lessons. The quartet agree to have dinner together. Afterwards, they each talk briefly about their ideas of love in Henri's living room. Henri is happy to be free from any serious commitments, as he travels the world as an ethnographer. Marion wants to fall passionately in love at first sight, and she regrets her failed marriage to a man that she did not really love. Pierre is more cautious, and feels that love cannot form in an instant. Pauline listens quietly throughout and confesses that she agrees most of all with Pierre's idea of love, but that she has learned a lot from listening to all of them.
Henri suggests that they all go dancing at a nearby casino. At the casino, Pierre confesses that his love for Marion has been reignited by seeing her again. But she does not want any part in a relationship with him, due to his jealous nature. Instead, she chooses to sleep with Henri.
Back at the beach, Pierre tries to teach Marion and Pauline how to windsurf and some local boys approach. Sylvain (Simon de la Brosse) takes a liking to Pauline. Marion steals away to visit Henri. Before they make love again, she prods him about the nature of his feelings, worried that she is just a meaningless conquest to him. Meanwhile, Sylvain and Pauline begin an affair of their own.
In short order, Henri does in fact sleep with someone else, seducing a local candy vendor while Marion and Pauline are visiting Mont Saint-Michel. Sylvain is watching TV downstairs at Henri's house, while Henri is upstairs with the girl. Seeing Marion pull into the driveway, Sylvain goes upstairs to warn Henri. The candy vendor hides in the bathroom, and Henri shoves Sylvain after her, closing the door as Marion climbs the stairs. After Marion hears the pair in the bathroom, Henri opens the door and lets them scoot by, explaining to Marion that he had caught the two making love in his bed. However, Pierre had been walking by and, from the sidewalk, had seen the naked candy vendor in Henri's bedroom.
Confusion arises as to who slept with whom. Pierre tries to warn Marion off of Henri because of what he saw, but she assures him that it was Sylvain who was cheating on Pauline with the candy girl. Pauline is hurt, but not heartbroken by the news.[1] However, Henri's lie unfolds as everyone involved begins to compare notes. When Marion is called away for a brief meeting in Paris, Pauline learns the truth about Sylvain. She and Pierre go looking for him.
They end up running into Henri and Pierre at a restaurant in Granville, and they all return to Henri's house to make up over a champagne toast. Henri accepts responsibility for causing everyone so much trouble. Pauline does not completely forgive Sylvain, however, because by not telling the truth, he ended up hurting Pauline. When it is time to go for the evening, Pierre and Sylvain get into a scuffle over Pauline. She decides to stay at Henri's, since Marion is still away. In the morning, Henri tries to seduce Pauline, but she fends him off. He decides to leave on a 2-week sailing trip, and he writes a farewell letter to Marion.
Back at their cottage, Marion reads the letter, and Pauline suggests that they end their vacations early. Both have been disappointed in their affairs. After they drive out of the gate, Marion turns off the car and says to Pauline that she is going to choose to believe that Henri did not sleep with the candy vendor, because believing otherwise would be too painful. She suggested that Pauline can still rightfully believe that Sylvain also did not sleep with the candy vendor. The girls agree to hold on to their different truths, and they begin the drive back to Paris. The film closes on the same shot of the cottage gate.
The film earned strong reviews when it was first released. Vincent Canby described it as "effortlessly witty" and "effervescent" in his New York Times review. He concluded, "I hope that Pauline at the Beach will win new admirers for Mr. Rohmer, one of the most original and elegant film makers at work today in any country....Mr. Rohmer's works could not exist in any other form. Their particular character would float off any printed page. They combine images, language, action and cinematic narrative fluidity to create a kind of cinema that no one else has ever done before. Pauline at the Beach is another rare Rohmer treat."[2]
Referencing the Chrétien de Troyes quote that opens the film, "A wagging tongue bites itself", Pauline Kael wrote, "Pauline, who is the moral center of the film, doesn't carry tales. She listens to Marion deceiving herself and switching from one attitude to another as she tries to manipulate Henri. Pauline takes in what people say and what they do; she doesn't add to the talk with what she has heard." [3]
Éric Rohmer won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival.[4] The film won the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1983 for Best Screenplay.