Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Francoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault, Antoine Vitez, Leonide Kogan, Guy Leger, Anne Dubot, Marie Becker, Marie-Claude Rauzier
Written by Eric Rohmer
Certification UK PG | US xx
Runtime 113 minutes
Directed by Eric Rohmer
Rohmer has a fervent following among certain world cinema lovers but I'm not one of them. His output is generally tedious in my estimation. My Night With Maud though is an exception. It's certainly talky and overlong, but it has a sly, convincing charm to it and there's a light, amiable air to the proceedings. It's being re-released by London's BFI Southbank as a tribute to the venerable director.
The third of his six "moral tales", it stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as a shy engineer who is smitten with pretty blonde Francoise (Barrault) whom he sees at church but is too unconfident to engage in conversation. Later on, he bumps into old university pal Vidal (Vitez) who introduces him to the attractive woman he's been having a liaison with, the outgoing Maud (Fabian). They spend the evening chatting and when Vidal leaves, the engineer chastely spends the night with her. This enervating but awkward encounter gives him the strength to pursue the object of his affection, though Maud's alluring personality gives him pause for thought. Five years later. he's happily married to Francoise, and a chance meeting with Maud on the beach offers a revelation to him.
These characters are extremely well drawn and there's no artifice to any of the performances. Everyone plays off each other with natural, spontaneous ease, and though some scenes go on far too long, the subtle dynamics between them keep one engaged. It ends on a sweetly satisfying note and is overall a classy effort acted with likeable style.