The Aviator's Wife

Infobox Film
name = The Aviator's Wife


caption = The original French poster for "The Aviator's Wife".
director = Éric Rohmer
producer = Margaret Mènègoz
eproducer =
aproducer =
writer = Éric Rohmer
starring = Phillippe Marlaud
Marie Rivière
Anne-Laure Meury
music = Georges Prat
cinematography = Bernard Lutic
editing = Cècile Decugis
distributor = Fox/Lorber (USA)
released = 1981 France
runtime = 104 min.
country = France
awards =
language = French
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:84174
imdb_id = 0080728

"The Aviator's Wife" (French: "La femme de l'aviateur") is a 1981 French film written and directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Phillippe Marlaud, Marie Rivière and Anne-Laure Meury. Like many of his films, it deals with the ever-evolving love lives of a group of young Parisians. This was the first in Rohmer's "Comedies & Proverbs" series — a collection of six films the director made during the 1980s. Each of these films begins with a proverb, in the case of The Aviator's Wife this is: "On ne saurait penser à rien" or "It is impossible to think about nothing".

Plot

A young man who believes his girlfriend is cheating on him with an ex decides to follow his rival through Paris.

Francois (Marlaud) is in love with the fiercely independent and slightly older Anne (Rivière). One morning, Anne's airline-pilot ex, Christian (Carrière), visits her to tell her that it is over between them and that he will return to his wife. Francois just happens to see the two leave Anne's building together and becomes obsessed by the idea that she is cheating on him.

As he strolls aimlessly through the streets of Paris, he catches sight of Christian in a cafe with another woman. As they leave and jump on a bus Francois decides to follow them. A young girl he has never met, Lucie (Anne-Laure Meury) figures out what he is up to and playfully joins in with his amateur espionage.

Throughout the day, their stories and explanations for Christian's action become increasingly complex and outlandish. Eventually, they lose track of Christian in a taxi and they both leave, promising to write to each other if they ever found out what Christian was really up to. Francois returns to Anne where he discovers that all was not as it seemed between Christian and the blonde woman.

As he leaves Anne's flat he spots Lucie embracing a young colleague of his. Once the couple part, Francois follows the boy.

Background/Production

After completing his "Six Moral Tales" series in 1972 with "L'amour l'apres-midi", Rohmer spent the remainder of the decade filming historical litereary adaptations (see "Perceval" and "La Marquise d'O..."). As a new decade dawned, the director returned to writing his own material and "The Aviator's Wife" forms the beginning of the "Comedies & Proverbs" series.

Cast

*Phillipe Marlaud as François
*Marie Rivière as Anne
*Anne-Laure Meury as Lucie
*Mathieu Carrière as Christian
*Mary Stephen as Canadian Tourist

Reception

As with most of Rohmer's output, the critical reception was mixed. Roger Ebert praised the film, particularly the acting, whilst others ("The New York Times", for example) did not appreciate the director's trademark passive and deliberately paced shooting style.

External links

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