Éric Rohmer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Éric Rohmer
Rohmer at the Cinémathèque Française in 2004
Born	Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer or Jean Marie Maurice Schérer (1920-03-21)21 March 1920 Tulle, France
Died	11 January 2010(2010-01-11) (aged 89) Paris, France
Occupation	Film director journalist teacher
Years active	1945–2009
Spouse(s)	Thérèse Schérer ​ (m. 1957)​
Children	2

Éric Rohmer (born March 21, 1920, died January 11, 2010) was a famous French film director. He was also a film critic, journalist, writer, and teacher. His real name was Jean Marie Maurice Schérer (or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer).

He was part of a group of filmmakers called the French New Wave after World War II. Rohmer was the last of this group to become well-known. He was the editor of an important film magazine called Cahiers du cinéma from 1957 to 1963. Many of his friends from the magazine, like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, also became famous directors.

Rohmer became known around the world in 1969. His film My Night at Maud's was nominated for an Academy Award. He won awards at major film festivals. These included the San Sebastián International Film Festival for Claire's Knee in 1971. He also won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Green Ray in 1986. In 2001, he received a special Golden Lion award for his whole career.

After Rohmer passed away in 2010, a newspaper called The Daily Telegraph said he was "the most durable filmmaker of the French New Wave." This meant he kept making movies that people wanted to see for a very long time.

Early Life and Beginnings

Rohmer was born in Nancy, France. His parents were Mathilde and Lucien Schérer. He was a Catholic. Rohmer kept his personal life very private. He even gave different birth dates to reporters.

He chose his special name, Éric Rohmer, from two famous artists. One was the actor and director Erich von Stroheim. The other was the writer Sax Rohmer, who wrote the Fu Manchu stories. Rohmer studied in Paris and earned a degree in history. He was also very interested in books, philosophy, and religion.

Career as a Journalist and Critic

Rohmer first worked as a teacher. In the mid-1940s, he moved to Paris and became a freelance journalist. In 1946, he wrote a novel called Elisabeth (also known as Les Vacances). He used the pen name Gilbert Cordier for this book.

In Paris, Rohmer started going to film screenings. He met other future New Wave filmmakers there. These included Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Claude Chabrol. Rohmer wasn't very interested in films at first. He preferred literature. But soon, he fell in love with movies. Around 1949, he started writing about films instead of general journalism.

In 1950, he helped start a film magazine called La Gazette du Cinéma. It didn't last very long. In 1951, Rohmer joined a new film magazine called Cahiers du Cinéma. He became its editor in 1956. As an editor, Rohmer had strong opinions. He was known for asking many questions in his writings. He rarely used "I" in his articles. Rohmer was more traditional in his political views than other writers at the magazine.

His most famous article was "Le Celluloïd et le marbre" (meaning "Celluloid and Marble") from 1955. In this article, Rohmer wrote that film is "the last refuge of poetry." He believed film was the only art form where new ideas could still appear naturally.

In 1957, Rohmer and Claude Chabrol wrote a book about Alfred Hitchcock. This was one of the first books to study Hitchcock's films in depth. It looked at Hitchcock's Catholic background. This book helped create the auteur theory. This idea suggests that the director is the main artist behind a film.

By 1963, Rohmer had different ideas from some of the other critics at Cahiers du Cinéma. He still liked American films. But many others were interested in cinéma vérité (a style of documentary filmmaking) and Marxist film ideas. Rohmer left the magazine that year.

Film Career Highlights

Early Films and Six Moral Tales

In 1950, Rohmer made his first short film. It was called Journal d'un scélérat. He used a borrowed camera for it. In 1951, he made another short film, Présentation ou Charlotte et son steak. Jean-Luc Godard helped write and star in this film.

In 1959, Rohmer directed his first full-length movie, The Sign of Leo. It was about an American composer waiting for money. In 1962, Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder started their own film company called Les Films du Losange. This company made most of Rohmer's films.

Rohmer's career really took off with his series of films called Six Moral Tales. Each film in this series follows a similar idea. A man is committed to one woman. He is then tempted by another woman. But in the end, he goes back to the first woman.

Rohmer explained that his characters "like to bring their motives...into the open." They think a lot about why they do things. He said a "moraliste" is someone interested in what goes on inside people's minds. He wanted to show six different versions of the same theme.

The first two Moral Tales were The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963) and Suzanne's Career (1963). They were not shown in theaters at first. Rohmer was not happy with their technical quality.

In 1967, he made La Collectionneuse, the third Moral Tale. It was made with a very small budget. The film won an award at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival. French critics liked it, but some US critics found it "boring."

The fourth Moral Tale was My Night at Maud's (1969). This film was a big success. It was praised at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for two Academy Awards. These were for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film.

The fifth Moral Tale was Claire's Knee (1970). It won many awards and was a huge international success. It was Rohmer's second film in color. He said the colors, especially green, were very important to the film.

The sixth and final Moral Tale was Love in the Afternoon (1972). Rohmer said he wanted the Six Moral Tales to show "feelings buried deep in our consciousness." He filmed the characters thinking about and judging their own actions.

Comedies and Proverbs and Later Works

After the Moral Tales, Rohmer made La Marquise d'O... in 1976. This film was based on a story by Heinrich von Kleist. Many critics thought it was one of his best films. Rohmer said he wanted to use the original text as if Kleist himself had made the movie.

In 1980, Rohmer started a new series of films called "Comedies and Proverbs." Each film was based on a proverb (a short, wise saying). The first was The Aviator's Wife (1981). This was followed by Le Beau Mariage (A Perfect Marriage) in 1982. Rohmer said he wanted to show "how someone's imagination works."

The third film in this series was Pauline at the Beach (1983). It won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival. Rohmer often worked on film ideas for many years before making them.

The fourth film was Full Moon in Paris (1984). Rohmer even made up the proverb for this film himself. It was: "The one who has two wives loses his soul, the one who has two houses loses his mind." Rohmer often rehearsed with actors and recorded their conversations. He would then rewrite the script based on these talks.

The fifth film was The Green Ray (1986). Rohmer let the actors create their own dialogue. The film was shot in 16mm, which made it look very natural. The only big expense was a trip to the Canary Islands to film the rare green rays of light. The film was first shown on TV. It then became a hit in theaters. It won the Golden Lion at the 1986 Venice Film Festival.

The sixth film in the series was Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987).

In the 1990s, Rohmer made a third series of films called Tales of the Four Seasons. These included A Tale of Springtime (1990), A Tale of Winter (1992), A Summer's Tale (1996), and Autumn Tale (1998). Autumn Tale was highly praised when Rohmer was 79 years old.

In the 2000s, Rohmer, in his eighties, made historical dramas. These included The Lady and the Duke (2001) and Triple Agent (2004). The Lady and the Duke caused some discussion in France. Some critics thought it showed the French Revolution in a negative way.

In 2001, Rohmer received a special Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for his entire career. His last film, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, was shown in 2007.

Rohmer's Unique Style

Rohmer's films often focus on smart characters who talk a lot. These characters sometimes struggle to admit what they truly want. The difference between what they say and what they do creates much of the drama in his movies. Rohmer believed filmmaking was "closer to the novel" than to theater.

He usually avoided close-up shots of faces. He also rarely used music that wasn't part of the scene itself. He felt this broke the "fourth wall," which separates the audience from the film. However, he did use some music in The Green Ray.

Rohmer's films often show characters traveling from one place to another. They walk, drive, or take trains. This shows how everyday travel is a part of life. This was very clear in Le Beau Mariage (1982).

His films often feature young people in their twenties. The settings are usually beautiful beaches and resorts. Examples include La Collectionneuse (1967) and Pauline at the Beach (1983). These films are full of bright sunlight, blue skies, and clear waters. Rohmer said he felt more comfortable working with younger characters.

Rohmer liked to use actors who were not professionals. He would have many rehearsals before filming. He filmed very quickly and spent little time editing. He often shot scenes in the order they appeared in the story. He also filmed scenes at the actual time of day they were supposed to happen. He joked that his films were "slaves to weather" because he checked the weather service every day.

His characters often have long conversations. They talk about relationships, but also about everyday things like finding a vacation spot. Since many of his characters were educated, they sometimes discussed literature and philosophy.

A Summer's Tale (1996) shows many parts of a typical Rohmer film. It has no background music and no close-ups. It features a seaside resort and long talks between young, educated characters.

Rohmer said he wanted to look at "thoughts rather than actions." He was interested in "what is going on in their minds while they are doing it."

Starting in the late 1970s, Rohmer began to use fewer crew members. By the time he filmed The Green Ray in 1986, his crew was just a camera operator and a sound engineer. He said he wondered if he could even work with a normal film crew anymore.

Some people found his style very slow. The character played by Gene Hackman in the 1975 film Night Moves joked that watching Rohmer's films was "kind of like watching paint dry."

Rohmer was a very well-read person. His films often include ideas from plays and novels. For example, he referenced Jules Verne in The Green Ray and Pascal's Wager in My Night at Maud's.

Personal Life and Passing

Rohmer's brother was the philosopher René Schérer. In 1957, Rohmer married Thérèse Barbet. They had two sons. Their older son, René Monzat, became a writer and journalist.

Rohmer was a very religious Catholic. He was also very concerned about the environment. For many years, he didn't have a phone. He refused to ride in cars, calling them "immoral polluters." He was known for jogging two miles to his office every morning. He valued his privacy and sometimes wore disguises. Rohmer's mother never knew that her son was a famous film director.

Rohmer's grave in Montparnasse Cemetery

Éric Rohmer passed away on January 11, 2010, at the age of 89. He had been in the hospital for a week after having several strokes.

Jack Lang, a former French Culture Minister, called Rohmer "one of the masters of French cinema." Director Thierry Fremaux said Rohmer's work was "unique."

Rohmer is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. On February 8, 2010, the Cinémathèque Française held a special event to honor Rohmer. It included a screening of Claire's Knee and a short video tribute by Jean-Luc Godard.

Awards and Nominations

Filmography

Feature Films Directed by Rohmer

See also

In Spanish: Éric Rohmer para niños