4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle

4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle (1987) was written and directed by Éric Rohmer. Rohmer had some down time while directing the film Le Rayon vert, and used that time to make this interesting movie.

Joëlle Miquel plays Reinette, who is spending the summer in an isolated cottage near her rural home . Jessica Forde portrays Mirabelle, a Parisian who is vacationing in the area for the summer. The two women become friends. In the Fall, they share an apartment in Paris, where Reinette attends art school, and Mirabelle attends the Sorbonne.

Rohmer has divided the movie into four parts. The first part is when the two women meet. The other three parts are incidents that occur to one or both of them.

As in all of Rohmer's films, dialog is the very important. The women talk and argue throughout the film. Unlike many of Rohmer's films, things happen to them and those things are the basis of their discussions. (Usually, his characters just talk about relationships.)

The events include encounters with a shoplifter, a rude waiter, homeless people, and the owner of an art gallery.

The film is colorful, interesting, and easy to watch. It's not a masterpiece, but it's worth finding and watching. 4 aventures has a solid IMDb rating of 7.5. I thought it was even better then that, and rated it 9.

Adventure one sees townie Mirabelle, who has never really had cause to take time to observe nature, experience a series of minor revelations about country life. Experiences that, curiously, she doesn't seem to carry back home into the Parisian episodes. Indeed the first episode feels like a film-apart, largely because it's not referred back to. The remaining adventures concern how Reinette's fixed ideas cause her headaches in the city. While it's easy to have a set of unwaivering morals and manners living a more solitary life in the country, it's not as easy in 'the big smoke'. Discovering Parisians have a much more fluid moral compass causes Reinette horror and the viewer a degree of amusement. Indeed Episode Two is Rohmer doing, of all things, broad comedy - complete with a Fawlty-esque waiter. The director also diverts from his well-trodden path with the absence of romance from this movie (accordingly the film storms through the Bechdel test). I also loved the fact there also isn't the shadow of parental influence, the church or a peer group which sometimes operate, with varying degrees of success, in Rohmer's work. The girls really only have each other as a soundboard and that makes the new friendship between these unlikely flatmates all the more engaging.

I'm a huge Rohmer fan. I've seen all of the Moral Tales, the Comedies & Proverbs and the Tales of the Four Seasons. I dislike this particular film tremendously. Along with "Rendez-Vous in Paris," it represents Rohmer at his worst... moralistic, pedantic and amateurish. I've seen better summer camp skits than the bit at the cafe, the scene at the train station and the business at the art gallery. Frankly, with the exception of "The Blue Hour", the project is a wash. Joelle Miquel and Philippe Laudenbach deliver terrible, over-the-top performances, and even the great Fabrice Luchini seems foolish and out of place. Jessica Forde is passable as the jaded town rat. The only stand out (at least in a positive sense) is Marie Riviere who, as always, is entirely believable.

I'm not sure why this project got such a high IMDb rating. I can only think that people like the two-name films ("Celine and Julie", "Fanny and Alexander", etc.) because they sound whimsically playful. Rohmer has an excellent sense of humor (e.g., Conte d'ete, Boyfrends and Girlfriends, etc.), but this is not a delightful little caprice. With the exception of the first 20 minutes or so, it's a student project. Note also the horrendous original electronic music. Rohmer often refrains entirely from the use of music, and this is one case where he should have shown his usual restraint.

Do you like experimental films? Do you like films that are amusing and curious to watch, but, not very particular to have a well made star to end story? Then, this film is for you. It's a story about two girls in 4 sections. Interesting movie, and I liked it.

Reinette's antics are meant to irritate, and Mirabelle is why you keep watching. This dynamic of contrasting characters (the 'neurotic' complimented by 'the cooler friend'), often appears in Rohmer films: there's melodramatic Blanche and likeable Léa in L'Ami de mon amie; childish Magali and demure Isabelle in Conte d'automne; and unbearable Sabine and beautiful Clarisse in Le Beau Mariage.

The grocery store scene in Four Adventures stands out as the highlight of the film to me. Rohmer took us through the most interesting scene in what felt like real-time, and then, in the very next scene, allowed Mirabelle to describe the event to Reinette. Was she going to exaggerate or tell the truth?! I thought that was a brilliant little moment, where we were able to be voyeurs not once, but twice.

Overall, this little gem about an unlikely friendship puts you exactly where you want to be: living in Rohmer's France for 1 hour and 39 minutes. My only complaint is: I wished Rohmer had worked with Jessica Forde (the actress who plays Mirabelle) in more of his films. She was a natural; one of my favorite Rohmerettes.