The Aviator's Wife

The first film in Éric Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs. François works nights at the post office. Coming off shift in the morning he goes to his girlfriend Anne's building and sees another man leaving it. The man is a pilot and an old relationship of hers. François follows him. While tailing him he meets a girl named Lucie in a park; she works out what is happening and joins the pursuit. The two wander together through an afternoon, speculating and building their own story. The idea is that when we put meaning on what we see, we add our own fear. Following the pilot, François constructs a story, and that story is far more compelling than the truth. The narrative proceeds in real time and takes place entirely on the streets of Paris. Rohmer's method is the same: long conversations, an uninterfering camera and natural light. The proverb that gives the film its title is given at the opening; every film in the series opens that way. Marie Rivière plays Anne and Anne-Laure Meury plays Lucie. A suitable way into the series for anyone who likes French cinema and films built on talk. For a viewer wanting incident, there is only walking and talking across the film.