A Tale of Winter
A Tale of Winter (French: Conte d'hiver) is a 1992 French drama film directed by Éric Rohmer, and starring Charlotte Véry, Frédéric van den Driessche and Michael Voletti. It is the second of Rohmer's "Tales of the Four Seasons" (Contes des quatre saisons), which also include A Tale of Springtime (1990), A Summer's Tale (1996) and Autumn Tale (1998). The film was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.[2][3]
| Conte d'hiver | |
|---|---|
 French poster | |
| Directed by | Éric Rohmer |
| Produced by | Margaret Ménégoz |
| Written by | Éric Rohmer |
| Starring | Charlotte Véry Frédéric van den Driessche Michael Voletti Hervé Furic Ava Loraschi |
| Music by | Sébastien Erms |
| Cinematography | Luc Pagès |
| Edited by | Mary Stephen |
Release date |
|
Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $1.6 million[1] |
Synopsis
During her summer holidays, young Félicie falls in love and has an affair with a handsome cook named Charles. He plans to leave for America at the end of the summer. Félicie gives Charles her address, hoping for further contact. Out of nervousness, she makes a mistake in the address and, consequently, he fails to find her. Five years later, Félicie is a single mother raising Charles' daughter. While still hoping that one day she'll meet Charles again, she maintain a normal life. As Christmas comes and goes, she's having difficulty choosing between two men she is dating, the hair dresser Maxence and the librarian Loïc, both patiently waiting for her to commit. As New Year's Eve approaches, she decides that she cannot be happy with either. At the end of the film, Félicie's faith in providence is rewarded when she 'accidentally' finds Charles again and they are as passionately attracted as they were five years before. The film ends on a high note for the reunited lovers.
Cast
- Charlotte Véry as Félicie
- Frédéric van den Driessche as Charles
- Michel Voletti as Maxence
- Hervé Furic as Loïc
- Ava Loraschi as Elise
- Christiane Desbois as Félicie's mother
- Rosette as the sister
- Jean-Luc Revol as the brother-in-law
- Haydée Caillot as Edwige
- Jean-Claude Biette as Quentin
- Marie Rivière as Dora
- Claudine Paringaux as the customer
- Roger Dumas as Leontes
- Danièle Lebrun as Paulina
- Diane Lepvrier as Hermione
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 95% based on reviews from 20 critics, with an average rating of 7.9/10.[4]
Roger Ebert added A Tale of Winter to his Great Movies series in 2001, writing, "What pervades Rohmer's work is a faith in love--or, if not love, then in the right people finding each other for the right reasons. There is sadness in his work but not gloom."[5] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "At least part of the comic appeal of Mr. Rohmer's work is the complete confidence, clarity and decisiveness with which he dramatizes the utter confusion of his emotionally besieged heroines."[6] Hal Hinson of the Washington Post called it "a small work, but nearly perfect."[7]
References
- "Conte d\'hiver (1992)". JPBox-Office.com.
- "Berlinale: 1992 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- "A Winter Tale". unifrance.org. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
- "Conte d'hiver (A Tale of Winter) (1992)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- Roger Ebert (December 9, 2001). "A Tale of Winter Movie Review (1992)". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- Canby, Vincent (2 October 1992). "Review/Film Festival; Another Seasonal Tale From Rohmer (Published 1992)". The New York Times.
- Hal Hinson (July 8, 1994). "'A Tale of Winter'". Washington Post.
- Clark, Mike (December 28, 1994). "Scoring with true life, `True Lies' and `Fiction.'". USA Today (Final ed.). p. 5D.