RE-RELEASE

Re-released in a new print, this was Eric Rohmer’s international breakthrough – it was even Oscar-nominated for Best Screenplay! – back in 1969 and remains among his finest films. December in Clermont-Ferrand and Jean-Louis Trintignant’s Michelin engineer decides that he’s going to marry the beautiful blonde (Marie-Christine Barrault) he’s seen at Mass, though his later encounter with an alluring divorcee (Françoise Fabian’s eponymous Maud) has him pondering the validity of such certitude. Needless to say, this entails a certain amount of terribly French philosophical chatter, but Rohmer’s insights into the often awkward fit between our moral ideals and our instinctive desires – and indeed the potential pitfalls in any life-changing decisions – are resolutely human, accessible and timeless. Moreover, the expert performers spontaneously capture all the nuances from buzzed flirtatiousness to pensive yearning, as Nestor (Days of Heaven) Almendros’ fine-grained black-and-white camerawork brings the snowy provincial settings to life. Eminently cultured, of course, and, for a film exploring Catholic theology, surprisingly sexy too. (Notes by Trevor Johnston.)