L'amour l’après-midi (Love in the Afternoon)

Upon its release, the final instalment of the Contes moraux received a lukewarm reception, but L’amour l’après-midi is now regarded as one of Rohmer’s finest works. Whilst the sexual revolution was in full swing, Rohmer chose a protagonist who tries to resist temptation. The married Frédéric (Bernard Verley as the director’s stand-in?) leads a quiet, bourgeois life, but harbours romantic fantasies which Rohmer playfully depicts in an anthology scene in which the actresses from earlier Contes moraux appear on the streets of Paris. However, Frédéric’s equilibrium and marital fidelity are disrupted when the promiscuous Chloé (Zouzou) reappears in his life. Thanks to the natural performances, the astute psychological observations and the meticulous evocation of early 1970s Paris, the film has become one of Rohmer’s most nuanced and profound studies of the trials and tribulations of love.