A Good Marriage

Sabine is seeing a married man and one day understands it will lead nowhere. She decides: she will marry. Whom is a secondary matter; the decision comes first and the person will be found. Her friend Clarisse introduces her to a lawyer. Edmond is courteous, distant and busy. Sabine decides she has chosen him. She telephones him, arranges meetings, tells her family about him. Edmond does not quite understand what is happening. The further Sabine goes the further he draws back. In the end there is a conversation. Éric Rohmer writes and directs. Béatrice Romand plays Sabine, André Dussollier plays Edmond and Arielle Dombasle plays Clarisse. It is a French production, made in 1982. The film is the second in Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs; each is built around a proverb. The matter it treats is persuading yourself of an idea; the more Sabine justifies her decision the further reality recedes. The narrative rests on talk; there is no event and the scenes are dialogue. Rohmer does not judge his characters, but the narrative shows plainly that Sabine is deceiving herself. The film moves between Le Mans and Paris and the travelling sets its rhythm. Béatrice Romand became known for the part and appeared in other Rohmer films. The ending gives no closure and Sabine learns nothing. Its limit is form; the narrative is all talk, the pace low, and the character tiring. Who it is for: viewers who like Rohmer's cinema and films built on conversation. Who it is not for: it is uneventful, slow, and the ending unresolved.