A Tale of Springtime

Jeanne, a philosophy teacher at a lycée, has nowhere to stay: a cousin is in her own flat and her boyfriend's place is a mess she does not want to sit in. Natacha, a young pianist she meets at a party, invites her home and Jeanne stays a while. The tension between Natacha and her father, and the father's young girlfriend, soon fold Jeanne into a plan: the girl wants to bring her father and Jeanne together. Éric Rohmer made it as the first of his Tales of the Four Seasons. It is built on conversation rather than event, and everything from Kant to the quality of April light is discussed in the same key. Nobody convinces anybody and the film does not treat that as a shortfall. Who it is for: viewers who like Rohmer and French cinema built on talk. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for incident.