Filmtip: Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon [2007]

Donderdag 10 september 2009 van 21:00 tot 22:50 uur op TV5 Monde Europe. Film van Eric Rohmer naar de herdersroman L'Astrée van Honoré d'Urfé.

S. James Snyder: At the core of "Astrea and Celadon" are questions of loyalty and fidelity. Where a typical modern romance would send Celadon running back into the arms of a concerned Astrea, Mr. Rohmer twists the concepts of forgiveness and honor until they are barely discernible. Despite surviving the river with his love intact, Celadon is unswerving in his commitment never to pursue Astrea again. Is it honorable to keep such a promise? Is it mere egoism and stubbornness? Meanwhile, back upstream, a distraught Astrea prays for her lover's return.

Eric Rohmer werd door het departement van de Loire voor de rechter gedaagd, omdat aan het begin van de film werd vermeld dat „helaas niet kon worden opgenomen op de plaats waar de auteur het verhaal had gesitueerd, aangezien de vlakte van Forez tegenwoordig ontsierd wordt door verstedelijking, wegverbreding, het vernauwen van rivieren en het planten van naaldbossen”. Daarom, zei Rohmer, is uitgeweken naar andere streken in Frankrijk, „waar de wilde poëzie in het landschap bewaard gebleven is” (NRC Handelsblad). Het kwam niet tot een veroordeling.

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Filmtip: L'Anglaise et le Duc [2001]

In de nacht van zaterdag (11 juli 2009) op zondag van 3:00 tot 5:00 uur op BBC 2. Eric Rohmer verfilmde de memoires van Grace Elliott over de Revolutie in Parijs.

Eric Rohmer: My researcher found me a complete copy of the text, which had been published several times in France. Grace Elliott was born in 1760 and died in 1823. Her journal begins on 14th July 1789 and ends just before she was let out of prison, after the fall of Robespierre. Over and above its undeniable historical interest (it contains a few minor errors in dates, but most of it has the ring of truth), there is something striking about it, as though it had already been written as a script, with scenes, sequences and even dialogue. It has a very different tone from the other journals I have read. Memoir-writers mostly tend to write about themselves, their fears and hopes, but Grace Elliott includes herself in the picture, though always maintaining a certain detachment and distance. We see her acting and moving around, but the other characters also live in a very powerful way, especially the Duke of Orleans, of whom we have very few first-hand reports.

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