An absorbing movie filled with a lot of talk, but the talk is not only fascinating in itself but revelatory of character, particularly the character of the Catholic engineer played superbly by Trintignant. My only problem with the film--a small one--is the coincidence with which it concludes and which makes resolution possible. Although it can be defended as an ironic comment on the film's theme of probability, I still believe it provides too pat an ending for this a rich and beautiful film.

Rohmer é um artesão sempre correndo por fora das tendências do cinemão. Enquanto muitos se preocupavam com a revolução estética e transformavamo o cinema em um mero produto de entrenimento, Rohmer tecia seu cipoal de humanidade, intelectualidade e beleza na sua máquina minimalista. "Ma nuit chez Maud" é jóia rara, onde questões morais são confrontadas com esmero e naturalidade.

It's amazing how Rohmer conveys so much with such minimalist technique. This is a film grounded firmly in reality, considering questions of fate, chance, and choice without sensationalizing. His use of language is fantastic. Despite being a dialog-heavy film, there is little in the way of straightforward communication. The protagonist talks as if he wants to be perceived in a particular way, but Trintignant plays him with doubt and reserve, gradually revealing his true character.

Assaults you with its philosophical musings and name-dropping on the outset, but slowly eases into a compelling, ambiguously character-driven experience; and a rewarding one, at that. Glad to find Rohmer on firm ground, with an acting troupe capable of portraying his complexity with ease (as this was my main problem with his earliest work).

It's at times breezy and fun, and at others nearly inaccessibly philosophical and spiritual, although it thankfully never descends into painful, Godardesque musings on these subjects. Rohmer writes dialogue so well that he can get away with such a talky film, as the conversations consistently engage rather than bore. One of his best.

There is a sadness to this beautiful film... a sadness to the necessity of choices in life.

#283

This has absolutely no business being this good. It shouldn't work at all. It's just a lot of back and forth between some very french people and yet, because of Rohmers tastefully minimalistic approach to cinema and his (almost too) sly script that reveals the doubts, limited charms and limitless flaws of his protagonists, it works brilliantly.

Wonderful. One of Rohmer's more complex films. Despite the usual frank discussion of emotions we're never quite sure how characters are really feeling and whether they're telling the truth or acting true to themselves. I love how the discussion on Pascal's Wager ties in very subtly and nicely with the film's ending. Also this film seems quite elegant in contrast to other Rohmer films, no doubt in part due to the black and white photography (and how well it compliments the snowbound locale).

The film feels like a sketch rather than a complete work; its biggest flaw is that it's overwritten - with continuous dialogue - to compensate for giving the viewer an emotional connection to the characters instead of letting the latter drive the dialogue (if there was ever a film that needed more scenes of silence this is it). A later film of Rohmer's from the 1980s 'Pauline at the Beach' shows how a dialogue heavy drama should be done, far more refined and superbly crafted than this.

It seemed like a film of straight lines. I think, by the end, there were only curves.

This is the way a dialogue heavy drama should be. The conversations are so natural and interesting that you don't notice how long they are. The film doesn't show much, but there is enough to give the characters a depth and let you get at their motivations. Rohmer expertly combines the characters actions and their conversations to make you think about love, chance and belief.

# 254

An early Rohmer masterpiece.

I doubt that you can actually find this many random strangers on the streets who are this high-minded, but this is another of Rohmer's talkfests that's never dull

I don't have much to say about this except I really liked it. It's a little talky, but Rohmer (like Malle) has an exquisite gift for protracted conversations, and their subtle nuances. Like his other Moral Tales films, it's the story of a man choosing between two women, with neither choice necessarily being the "right" one. Trintignant (from The Conformist and Three Colors: Red, among others) is excellent.

Dialogue, lots of it. Rather prosaic relationship talk, and a bunch of conversations about Blaise Pascal (Trintignant's protagonist is a very Kierkegaardian conundrum himself). It's all intelligently written but I admit it strained me, and this seems to be the rule with Rohmer, he's good but boring.

282

278

Great Movie

The problem with being this dialogue heavy is my intense hatred of non literal subtitles. I don't understand why some faceless drone has to change all this stuff around. Also, it was really bad every time it was in a church. And why in the fuck didn't the dude sleep with Maud. She was lookin good.