Review of A Tale of Winter

Tale of Winter is a good effort by Rohmer, though not his best by any means. Basically, the story is about Felicie, a Parisian beautician, who has a torrid romance with a man called Charles during one summer. Unfortunately, at the time of saying goodbye to each other, Felicie inadvertently gave Charles a wrong address, so they are unable to meet again. The movie then moves on to five years later, and what remains of that romance is a photo of Charles and a five year old daughter born of that fleeting relation. Felicie is at the moment having to decide between two boyfriends: Loic, a Catholic intellectual, or Maxence, a somewhat older hairdresser. She is undecided on whom to choose, longing instead for Charles to reappear in her life, but that would take a miracle, right? Or at least a deus ex machina as in the titular Shakespeare play. Her indecisiveness recalls us the character played in "Le Rayon Vert" by Marie Riviere (who has a cameo role in a crucial scene here). The problem is that the protagonist is not very likable. She is pretty, but she is also tiresome and somewhat unstable, and the spectators may at times not be going through very pleasant times. And while there is a happy ending, it's not terribly convincing given the circumstances.