Suzanne's Career/Girl at the Monceau Bakery

Rating:
Summary: "I know all your vices."
Review: "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery/ Suzanne's Career" is an early Eric Rohmer film. Made in the French New Wave era, these two short films should prove interesting to Rohmer fans as they are the first in the Moral Tales Series. The plot in each film depicts a main character facing a moral dilemma. "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery" is the shorter of the two films. It's a simple story--a young Parisian student (Barbet Schroeder) is attracted to a girl he sees daily. She brushes him off. Then he begins to visit a bakery and flirts with a girl who works there. Eventually, he makes a date with this girl, but then has the opportunity to meet the first girl on the same evening. Should he keep his scheduled date with the girl from the bakery or should he go off with the first girl, since he prefers her anyway?

"Suzanne's Career" is the story of two young students--Guillaume and Bertrand. Guillaume gets all the girls, and Bertrand exists in Guillaume's shadow. Guillaume's current girlfriend is a girl named Suzanne, and Guillaume callously drops her after a few weeks. Guillaume is an extremely unpleasant young man, and Bertrand seems to be the much better character. However, as the plot develops, both men use Suzanne hideously. Suzanne is sweet, needy, and rather docile. After dropping Suzanne, Guillaume sees how far he can push her by living off of her generosity. Bertrand knows better, but he goes along with the scheme.

Whereas Rohmer's later films are more dialogue driven, "Suzanne's Career" and "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery" both contain much more narration than dialogue. Both films seem much stiffer and much less natural than Rohmer's later films, and unfortunately, the black and white film was dark and murky in spots. "Suzanne's Career" started a little weakly, but in the final judgment, I preferred this film of the two. Rohmer's great strength is his concentration on character development, and human motivation. Unfortunately, "Suzanne's Career" never really delves into Bertrand's character. Bertrand is used to being the foil for Guillaume's little games, and he resents this. However, Bertrand's complicity is never explored, and the film is weaker as a result. Rohmer fans will enjoy watching this film, but it lacks the sophistication of his later films--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: "I know all your vices."
Review: "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery/ Suzanne's Career" is an early Eric Rohmer film. Made in the French New Wave era, these two short films should prove interesting to Rohmer fans as they are the first in the Moral Tales Series. The plot in each film depicts a main character facing a moral dilemma. "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery" is the shorter of the two films. It's a simple story--a young Parisian student (Barbet Schroeder) is attracted to a girl he sees daily. She brushes him off. Then he begins to visit a bakery and flirts with a girl who works there. Eventually, he makes a date with this girl, but then has the opportunity to meet the first girl on the same evening. Should he keep his scheduled date with the girl from the bakery or should he go off with the first girl, since he prefers her anyway?

"Suzanne's Career" is the story of two young students--Guillaume and Bertrand. Guillaume gets all the girls, and Bertrand exists in Guillaume's shadow. Guillaume's current girlfriend is a girl named Suzanne, and Guillaume callously drops her after a few weeks. Guillaume is an extremely unpleasant young man, and Bertrand seems to be the much better character. However, as the plot develops, both men use Suzanne hideously. Suzanne is sweet, needy, and rather docile. After dropping Suzanne, Guillaume sees how far he can push her by living off of her generosity. Bertrand knows better, but he goes along with the scheme.

Whereas Rohmer's later films are more dialogue driven, "Suzanne's Career" and "The Girl at the Monceau Bakery" both contain much more narration than dialogue. Both films seem much stiffer and much less natural than Rohmer's later films, and unfortunately, the black and white film was dark and murky in spots. "Suzanne's Career" started a little weakly, but in the final judgment, I preferred this film of the two. Rohmer's great strength is his concentration on character development, and human motivation. Unfortunately, "Suzanne's Career" never really delves into Bertrand's character. Bertrand is used to being the foil for Guillaume's little games, and he resents this. However, Bertrand's complicity is never explored, and the film is weaker as a result. Rohmer fans will enjoy watching this film, but it lacks the sophistication of his later films--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Two Shorts Make Four Stars
Review: This DVD encompasses the first two (short) films in Eric Rohmer's Moral Tales series (there are four other films in the series, for a total of six -- the rest are feature length films).

In the first short, The Girl at the Monceau Bakery, a young man spots an attractive girl who is often seen walking by, and decides he will pursue her. His interest in her grows after he gets up the courage to talk to her one day. Suddenly, though, she goes missing from the streets of Paris. As the protagonist walks in search of his infatuation, he begins making habitual stops at a nearby bakery. After a few visits, he begins to notice the young girl working at the bakery, and decides she is pretty. He arrogantly decides he will flirt with her, even ask her out, as an alternate to his lonely searching for the other woman. From the voice-over, it is clear he wants nothing to do with her, at least in the end, but he continues his flirtation. When the Bakery Girl finally agrees to a date, the original woman re-appears, complete with an explanation of why she'd been missing the weeks before. Our young protagonist must then decide whether to go through with the date, or turn his attentions entirely to the first woman. This is an interesting short to watch, but you may find yourself with some questions when it ends. I found it somewhat dated/simplisitic in its treatment of women and dating/relationships.

The second film is much longer, and concerns two young men who meet a pretty young girl in a cafe (Suzanne). As the two get to know Suzanne, they begin to take her affection and generosity for granted. The protagonist's quiet dislike for her grows the more generous she becomes. He doesn't understand why she would let herself be 'treated' so badly, and assumes she is merely a passive woman who doesn't stand up for herself. Blindsided by their own arrogance, the two men fail to see that Suzanne may be holding some cards of her own. She may in fact be in complete control of her 'situation,' and living exactly the way she wants to, just 'like a man.' I liked this film more than the first one, and found myself cheering for Suzanne. The end brought a smile to my face.

The director (Rohmer) is fascinated with the beginning/early stages of relationships, and the choices that are made at that point. Serving as a sort of match-maker for his characters, he foresees One Suitable Mate for his Protagonist, and Only One. However, since he does not always make clear what is driving the Protagonist's choices, we are often left not really knowing the reasons for the Protagonist's depth of feeling (or lack thereof), and how he can be sure that his decision is the Right one. For example, at the end of the first film, the protagonist abruptly decides which of the two women will be best-suited for him for life (marriage). Yet we aren't shown any information about her but her appearance. Is the protagonist so shallow, or is more going on here that I missed? As the FIN abruptly burns onto the screen, you may find yourself sitting for a moment or two, with question-marks in your eyes, in wonder and confusion at the follies of love.

The DVD itself, while it presented no problem, was nothing special. As with the other films in the series, the subtitles were burned into the film itself, and so could not be removed. In Black & White. French Soundtrack and English subtitles. 3 1/2 to 4 stars.