It's hard for me to see a foreign film, they are only showing in one theater in the Phoenix area. However, as faith would have it, my new school is by the theater in town showing foreign and independent films. You know the kind of films, the brilliant ones that are shown on The Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel, and BRAVO! Now I am proud to review my first (of hopefully many) foreign or independent film, and the film is entitled CONTE D' AUTOMNE (AUTUMN TALE). This film has an appropriate title, since most of the character's in this film are in the "Autumn years" of their life. The main character is Magali (Beatrice Romand) a widow who lives in the southern part of France and runs a vineyard. Her children (a son and daughter) are both adults and have gone on their own ways, which leaves her lonely. So her friend Isabelle (Marie Riviere) decides to secretly put in a ad, in the local newspaper under the "singles" section, looking for a man for Magali. However, Magali's son's girlfriend, Rosine (played by the very attractive Alexa Portal) decides to also help Magali, by having Magali meet Rosine's older ex-boyfriend Etienne (Didier Sandre), who was also Rosine's former teacher. Then Isabelle's ad got answered in the paper by a lonely man who just moved back to France from Egypt named Gerald (Alain Libolt). Gerald has something in common with Magali, they both worked on a vineyard. However, Gerald thinks that the person that is looking for someone to "meet" is is Isabelle, and Isabelle is happily married. I found "AUTUMN TALE" to be a nicely put and sweet story. The story has elements of a Shakespeare comedy, with some nice bits of modern romance. I highly enjoyed the acting, especially by Alain Libolt, the man who plays the love struck Gerald. When Isabelle is talking to Gerald, the viewer can see and tell by Gerald's eyes, that he is completely awe struck by Isabelle's beauty. I also found the story fun and enjoyable, granted it's not original or brilliant, but it is fun. I saw "AUTUMN TALE" after hearing many critic's (especially Roger Ebert) rave and praise this film. I was glad that I did see it, and it really grabed my intrest in watching some more of Rohmer's films. I also found out that AUTUMN TALE is Rohmer's third of his season films, so now I have yet to see his other two, and am also looking forward to it. AUTUMN TALE is the kind of romantic comedy that stays away from the American style of a romantic/comedy (i.e. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY & AMERICAN PIE). No gross jokes or words are used, it's just funny situations at perfect timing. If AUTUMN TALE happens to be showing in your town, then I would suggest that you should go see it. It's fun, heart-warming, and it's something that one wouldn't be embarrassed to take the older folks to. However I must warn some people, this is a sub-titled film, and you'll have to read the dialogue. There are a lot of people that I know, who won't step foot into a theater with a movie with subtitles. And that is a major shame, because they will miss some of the cinema's little treasures, like this film. ****1/2 (out of five)
Review of Autumn Tale
