Melinda Mariko Uno
Professor Gavriel Moses
Rohmer/Italian 170/University of California, Berkeley
15 November 2010
Rationalization of Desire in ‘Contes Moraux” III, V, VI
Eric Rohmer’s ‘Contes Moraux’ is a series of love stories, each tangent to the main character’s ‘normal’ lives and each new relationship is doomed. This is due to the basic structure Rohmer has outlined for the films: a man, committed somehow to a woman, meets another woman and proceeds to interact with her, only to return to the woman to whom he already committed. Because of the continuity of this structure throughout the series, Rohmer is free to play with the details. The evolution of Rohmer’s style as an auteur (Director, Screenwriter, Producer) is apparent due to the basic structural similarity of “Ma Nuit Chez Maud”, “Le Genou de Claire”, and “L’Amour l’apres-midi” and the evolution of complexity of psychology within this form. The beauty of the analysis of Rohmer as an auteur is the various means he communicates with an audience. Because of his literary past, Rohmer understands the importance of the tangibility of words, of language and text. Rohmer was first a writer but chose to make films (and was successful) because of the layer of perspective of the human psychosis that dialogue provides in addition to the things implied and acted out as images on a screen. Each film is a version of the same general structure, but distinct primarily as a result of the ways in which each character fills their role. Through the action of desire and rationalization of these desires, Rohmer explores the psychosis of the modern French bourgeois. Although the overall plot does not change and the affairs remain unconsummated, Rohmer shows that it is each person’s understanding of their desires and decisions that varies. It is the discourse that is the primary action in these films. Because of this, the very nature of desire and marriage are brought to light, portrayed in different forms and articulated in different terms; terms of philosophy, psychology, and religion. An examination of the dialogue as well as the verisimilitude evoked by Rohmer helps to understand the auteur’s importance to the evolution of modern western cinema.
Rohmer’s choice of subject is noteworthy. Bourgeois French society encourages a feeling of ennui (defined by OED online as: “listlessness or boredom out of lack of excitement”), and certainly the people portrayed in the Contes Moraux are acting in reaction to this feeling. The primary male protagonists of the ‘Contes Moraux III, V, VI’, the narrator of “Ma Nuit Chez Maud”, Jérôme, and Frédéric, are rarely seen working (although Frédéric is the only one shown at the law office where he works) and there certainly is enough leisure time to encourage conversation and facilitate an affair. Verisimilitude, according to the Oxford Online Dictionary, is defined as: “the appearance of being true or real”. Because of verisimilitude, it is already assumed that these characters exist, that they have some sort of predetermined function in the environment that the audience sees on screen. Rohmer does not waste much time with the characters back-stories, they are mentioned in passing. In other words, this verisimilitude is everything that the characters say among themselves in a given situation that is not concerned with informing the audience (10 Rohmer). Verisimilitude is the extra dialogue that infers the context of where the characters are and what they do on a day to-day basis without the direct dictation of that context. The three ‘Contes Moraux’ analyzed here are rampant with this sort of talk among the characters. The beauty of the portion of French society shown by Rohmer is that these people are educated and enjoy conversation; this modern culture is historically evolved from the tradition of the salon. However, because of the choice subject matter of these casual conversations in addition to the characters actions (direction of gaze, body language, etc.). The dialogue of the ‘Contes Moraux’ concerns every subject under the sun (except, of course, the weather as Aurora declares as a boring British tradition, in “Le Genou de Claire”) from religion to philosophy to romance to the character’s disposition and careers. To be discussed in greater detail later, despite the seeming triviality of the discourse, the true disposition of each character is exposed by a comparison of what they do and what they say.
It is perhaps because of the lack of need for action that these characters are tempted, out of boredom they search for some sort of excitement. Everything exciting and unconventional is embodied by the main female antagonists. It is merely the presence of these women that is the primary conflict. In “L’Amour l’apres-midi” Chloé surprises Frédéric at work and proceeds to make uninvited appearances at his office. Chloe is unlike Hélène in disposition, career choice, fashion, etc. She represents to Frédéric everything that Hélène could not, for Hélène is his wife and mother to his child. Perhaps that is why, at the very moment he must decide to sleep with Chloé he cannot - she would be evolving into a role that has, until this point, been occupied by Hélène. Chloé is a force of constant change, albeit transparently. She is explicit in stating her motives to Frédéric, although he merely takes what she says about having a child with him as an afterthought because of her dismissive tone until she is naked in front of him and he is forced into action.
Similarly, in “Ma Nuit Chez Maud” the narrator is (perhaps naively) deceived into spending the night with Maud. In this film, Maud is the dynamic opposite of the narrator as he is a devout Catholic and she an atheist. She is darker in complexion than Françoise and this has been argued to be symbolic of their spiritual connotations in relation to the narrator (57 Eric Rohmer). Each male protagonist’s passivity is implied in the dialogue and their surprised reactions at the brink of complete infidelity, but the camera captures a different perspective of the relationships. This is again, the advantage of film over textual description. In the opening to the Script for “Ma Nuit Chez Maud”, the narrator states “I will keep to a certain line, a certain order of events, a certain way in which one event succeeds another. But my feelings, my own opinions and beliefs, will not intrude upon the line of the story, even though they are at the forefront of the events described. I present them here without any desire to share them or justify them” (2 Rohmer III). Despite this narrative interjection about objectivity, it is apparent in the framework that the narrator is biased just by the very fact that he is an active participant in the story he is telling. Without attempting to justify anything, he does because of the fact that he is rationalizing his actions and behaviors based on his wants and needs. This does not translate directly to the film but is implied. The discussion about Pascal’s wager and the narrator’s emphasis on his choice to be a Catholic by acting accordingly reflects in the film, the contradiction of the text. The narrator’s general state of oblivion is also exuded by the body language of the other characters. Maud is obviously unresponsive to Valery’s hints at their past affair, but is flirtatious with her body movement as she sits near him. Because the narrator does not have sex with Maud it seems as though he has picked this up. However, when he is with Françoise, he is deluded by love and cannot see her obvious guilt until she is physically aloof on the hill-top.
Rohmer is distinct as an auteur because of his choice of manipulation of elements as well as the scope of his influence upon the film. Film can show more than one person’s behavior and attitudes without words. The dialogue and the words enhance what we see. Rohmer already had the images in his head and on paper in novella form; all that he had to do was get the equipment and actors to fit the parts (although the films were an evolution of the written texts, seen with “Le Genou de Claire” (60 Rohmer). As soon as the shift was made to film, the descriptive statements of the narrator (specifically of “Ma Nuit Chez Maud) were unnecessary. Instead, discussion could focus on larger issues such as politics and religion to make the characters more complex in their actions and their decisions more dramatic.
In France in the middle of the 20th century, these ‘Contes Moraux’ are set against a prescribed backdrop. In “Ma Nuit Chez Maud”, this is explicitly one of Provincial Catholicism and Pascal, outlining the film’s motif of reason pitted against faith. “Le Genou de Claire” is less explicit, set near a lake during the summer, although the cultural codes are implied in discussions of marriage, particularly Mme. W and Laura’s comments near the beginning of the film. Because many of the character’s foundational values and beliefs are indicated via verisimilitude, there is space for dialogue to be analyzed in terms of how the characters’ act in lieu of what they say. Of the three films, there is a different tone to the temptation. In “Le Genou de Claire” and “L’Amour l’apres-midi” the change to color from a black and white “Ma Nuit Chez Maud” changing the nature of the conflict; “here, for the first time, the focus is clearly set on the ethical and existential question of choice” (302 Rohmer).The act of desire has been repeatedly shown to be a vastly different action than an action based on that desire. Not intending to instigate a philosophical debate we will only mention that historically the relationship between passion and reason has never been successfully determined. Rohmer’s ‘Contes Moraux’ extrapolates this conflict into a modern French setting where the relationship between desire and rationality are antagonized by a conventional standard of time (times of work, vacation, meals, shopping, showering, etc.). Rohmer fails to make any ultimate assertions regarding this debate, but rather chooses to portray it in a setting familiar to him. Because of this setting each of the ‘Contes Moraux’ is a vignette of French bourgeois life and Rohmer is at liberty to play with the psychology of each character. One must understand how is Frédéric’s understanding of his desire is different than that of Jérôme. The presence of Aurora helps to explain the difference. In “Le Genou de Claire”, Jérôme’s affairs with Laura and Claire are instigated by his friend Aurora, whom is enjoying manipulating her friend as though he was a character in one of her stories.
Each narrator expresses a sense of control over his actions and his desires, but is ultimately proven to be deluded. This is set against the narrator’s desire to relinquish responsibility for their feelings of infidelity. The narrator in “Ma Nuit Chez Maud” attributes his story to chance and coincidence but is conflicted by his sense of faith and religious righteousness. This is apparent in his introduction to Maud and their dinner discussion with Valery (who is a Marxist) as their reason and faith contradict his. In “L’Amour l’apres-midi” there is a sequence where Frédéric fantasizes about an amulet that removes women’s wills. Yet even in the fantasy Frédéric lacks complete control over all women. This dream is a parallel to the reality of his relationship with all women. This is understood when the shop girl sells him a shirt he didn’t know he wanted (until she told him how it suited him and was attractive). Like the shop girl, Chloe attempts to persuade Frédéric to love her. He relinquishes responsibility for the affair as Chloé’s sudden and unannounced appearances at Frédéric’s office relieve him somewhat of feelings of guilt. This aversion lasts until the moment of ultimate decision about his affair, the moment in which he is to sleep with Chloé. It is at this moment that Frédéric must realize that he does have control, but only of his own actions, despite everything he may have said up to this point. Jérôme likewise can relinquish responsibility for his desires because of Aurora’s manipulation of his view of Claire and Laura. Jérôme even plays the part and goes along with the ploy to play at love with Laura, until we see his desire truly manifest in obsession with Claire’s knee and his attitudes toward Claire’s boyfriend Gilles.
This calls into question the notions of narration. Consistently Rohmer proves that the person who tells the story is an unreliable interpreter of their own actions. This can be seen primarily in the conflict between what the characters in these films say and what they do. For example, Jérôme’s interpretation of his own desire, although projects sincerity, is ultimately ironic due to the nature of how his desire affects his behaviors when interacting with Laura and Claire. Rohmer explores this question dynamically in these films. Film allows essentially the same psychological conflict to be expressed from another perspective, although it is antagonized by different external factors (marriage, faith, age, class, etc). The narrator is perhaps not intentionally dishonest, but instead constantly negotiating a sense of morality, of right and wrong in lieu of their wants and needs resulting in a narration that is inconsistent. A character’s rationalization of their desire is an act that reinforces that desire up until the moment of decision. Despite his initiative, the narrator at Maud’s realizes that stating he has had affairs with women and actually having an affair with Maud are conflicting. By not having an affair he is reinforcing his status as a devout Catholic, but the audience can see the contradiction of his dialogue.
Only as a series can anything poignant about human nature (or Rohmer as an auteur) be mentioned because each film is a story and comparatively the same story. It is the continuity and digression of themes in the characters’ behaviors that reflects the behaviors of people outside the films. Rohmer evokes an existential debate regarding the nature of action, what is said, and what one wants versus reality and other external factors. Desires primarily exist in a void for the lack of what a person desires is exactly what fuels the desire. The act of desiring is reinforced by speech acts but the acquisition of the object of desire eliminates it. For as soon as Jérôme touches Claire’s knee he declares his hunger satiated, and now his engagement can progress as planned. The moment at which Frédéric is to sleep with Chloe he cannot – for his desires are conflicting. He desires what his wife cannot give him, and what marriage provides for him at the same time. In the end, he chooses that status quo. Because of the structure of the ‘Contes Moraux’ the greatest action is not an action at all. In these films the greatest acts are speech acts, in which the characters rant and rave about this and that but in the end do nothing except return to the path their life was on before. This is distinctly Rohmer. Rohmer’s status as an auteur is marked by this dialogue heavy series. It is in this series that the nature of everything is questioned: the nature of debate, of existence, of faith, of reason, of action, of marriage, of love, etc. etc.
Works Cited
Rohmer, Eric. III “My Night at Maud’s”. from Six Moral Tales. trans by Sabine d’Estree.
Rohmer, Eric. V “Claire’s Knee”. from Six Moral Tales. trans by Sabine d’Estree.
“Verisimilitude”. Oxford Dictionaries. 14 November 2010. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1303891#m_en_us1303891>
ROHMER
Haskell in Roud “Eric Rohmer,” in Cinema: A Critical Dictionary
Monaco, “Moral Tales,” in The New Wave (1976)
C. G. Crisp, “Ma Nuit chez Maud,” in Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist (1988)
Eric Rohmer, "My Night at Maud's," from Six Moral Tales
Blaise Pascal, from Pensees (1660), “Of the Necessity of the Wager”
Crisp, “Le Genou de Claire,” ibid.
Eric Rohmer, "Claire's Knee," from Six Moral Tales
Crisp, “L’amour l’apr�s-midi,” ibid.