Rating  - Essential French cinema: Rohmer's 'Pauline à la plage.'
Éric Rohmer (1920) first challenged traditional Hollywood cinema with his French New Wave cycle of films, "Six Moral Tales," which he completed in 1972 before commencing another six-film cycle, "Comedies and Proverbs," each based on a different proverb.
Based on the proverb, "he who talks too much will hurt himself," Pauline At The Beach (Pauline à la plage) (1983) is the third in Rohmer's insightful "Comedies & Proverbs" film series. Set in Normandy, it tells the seaside-romance story of two two cousins, soon-to-be-divorced Marion (Arielle Dombasle) and 15-year-old Pauline (Amanda Langlet). Marion ignores the advances of her surfer-ex, Pierre (Pascal Greggory), and instead quickly falls for Henri (Féodor Atkine), who admits he is only interested in her "perfect" body. Henri derails Pauline's romance with a young man, Sylvain (Simon de La Brosse) with his deceipt. Pauline learns some important lessons about love at the beach, while her more-experienced cousin Marion ends the summer none the wiser. Rich in relationship dialogue, like many of Rohmer's films, Pauline at the Beach demonstrates how the course of love never did run smooth. Hopefully Criterion will remaster Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" series, and then offer it as a boxed collection similar its "Six Moral Tales" boxed set.
G. Merritt
Rating - Pauline at the Beach
One of Eric Rohmer's most enjoyable meditations on love and its discontents, "Pauline" is abetted by the presence of Langlet, an endearing and assured young actress. Rohmer takes his time observing his five characters and lets us get to know their (often deceptive) behavior, a tack that works wonders in his lively world of erotic farce. Jealousy, indiscretion, and human foibles are the thematic materials Rohmer works with here, all of which enmesh vain Marion in a love triangle of sorts, but it's young Pauline who seems to have the best head on her shoulders when it comes to sex and relationships. Smart, funny, insightful, and yes, trés sexy.
Rating  - light-hearted pretension, but at least it ends pessimistically
This is a coming of age film about getting it while on vacation. Some people are too serious and gushing sincerity, some stupid and self-deluding, some simply lustful and selfish. Pauline observes it all and grows, in my view acting more maturely than the adults. And the ending is realistic. There is nothing slick about Rohmer's production, and I never particularly liked his style and pedantic philosophical monologues, which the French really DO indulge in, in my humble experience. This uncompromising search for true love is endemic with the French I know, and I admit it bores me after having dealt with it for many years. You really can learn from this, at least about French culture, if not how to fall into healthy love. That makes this a pretty good film and it has some funny and unexpected twists. And the end is wonderfully un-Hollywood.
Rating  - One of Rohmer's best films, and the true nature of love...
"Pauline At The Beach" (1983) is an interesting film that you are likely to enjoy, even if you are not one of Eric Rohmer's fans. If you are already an admirer, though, you will simply love this movie, due to the fact that it displays the reason why Rohmer is such a respected director.
Before talking about this film, a short introduction to Rohmer for those that are not familiar with him is in order. Rohmer (Jean Marie Maurice Schérer, born in 1920 in France) is part of "La Nouvelle Vague" (= "The new wave"), a movement that says that the director is an "author" and that as such, his personal signature is evident in his work. Among the most well-known films of this French director, there is a cycle of films called "Six Moral Tales", a series called "Comedies and Proverbs" (in which each film is based on a different proverb), and a third series entitled "Tales of the Four Seasons".
"Pauline At The Beach" (= "Pauline à la plage"») is the third film in the "Comedies and Proverbs" series, and the proverb around which it is centered is "Qui trop parole, il se mesfait". The plot is not difficult to follow, but it is interesting, specially if you pay close attention to the dialogues among the characters, a Rohmer trademark.
The main character is Pauline (Amanda Langlet), a young teenager that goes to the beach with Marion (Arielle Dombasle), a relative that has divorced recently and is ready for something new, in other words an affair. Pierre (Pascal Greggory), an old acquaintance and Henri (Feodor Atkine), a newcomer, vie for Marion's attention. Pauline thinks that Pierre is the right one for her cousin, but Marion has other ideas, preferring Henri. Henri is not as smitten with her as Pierre, but that, and the fact that he remains elusive, are part of his attraction from Marion's point of view. Pauline will also meet a young boy, Sylvain (Simon de La Brosse), with whom she begins something resembling a relationship. But how will her cousin's love life affect her own? And will their differing views regarding love affect their new relationships?
The dialogue about the true nature of love among Pauline, Marion, Pierre and Henry is one of the highlights of this film. The undercurrents between the older characters are deep, and in that sense, Pauline directness is refreshing. This dialogue also allows the spectator to get at least an idea of how things are going to end for each of the characters, even though, of course, there are some unexpected surprises.
All in all, I think this is one of Rohmer's best films, along with "A summer tale", "A winter tale" and "Boyfriends and girlfriends". Highly recommended!
Belen Alcat
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