Fall 2024
Le Rayon Vert
Eric Rohmer - New 35mm print
Le Rayon Vert
A film by Eric Rohmer
STARRING
Marie Rivière, Béatrice Romand,
Carita, Lisa Heredia
and Vincent Gauthier
Directed Eric Rohmer
Written by Eric Rohmer with
the collaboration of Marie Rivière
Photography by Sophie Maintigneux
Edited by Maria-Luisa Garcia
Music by Jean-Louis Valero
Produced by Margaret Menegoz
A Production of Les Films du Losange, 1986, 1:33.
“Five stars! (highest rating) – Now here’s a summer movie to get excited about.”
“Rohmer’s ultimate masterwork. No film I can recall in years has provided such a profound insight into the human condition. A singularly ennobling episode in the history of cinema.”
“Eric Rohmer’s compassionate, humane masterpiece… its delicacy, charm and tenderness are irresistible.”
Declared the best movie of the year in 1986 by Andrew Sarris—a list that also included Hannah and Her Sisters, The Sacrifice, and Vagabond — Le Rayon vert is frequently cited as a career triumph in a filmography that includes numerous great films. Rohmer’s tale, the fifth in his “Comedies & Proverbs” cycle (“Ah for the days/That set our hearts ablaze” – Rimbaud), follows the independent but insecure Delphine (Rivière), a newly single young Parisian who cannot find a holiday companion for the month of August, and meets and rejects, glides and stumbles in her longing for connection. Overhearing a discussion of Jules Verne’s The Green Ray, Delphine becomes fascinated with seeing the elusive meteorological event - The Green Ray - and the promise that comes with it. Rohmer stock player Rivière, who also co-wrote her largely self-created role, delivers one of the most captivating lead performances in any of the filmmaker’s works.
“It’s as flawlessly constructed, shot and performed as ever… the word, quite bluntly, is masterpiece.”
