''The Aviator's Wife'' () is a 1981 French romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Éric Rohmer Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the Post-war, p ...

. The film stars Philippe Marlaud,

Marie Rivière Marie Rivière (; born 22 December 1956) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with director Éric Rohmer. From a working-class background, Marie Rivière grew up on a housing estate/project in Montreuil before ...

and Anne-Laure Meury. Like many of Rohmer's films, it deals with the ever-evolving love lives of a group of young Parisians. The film is the first instalment in Rohmer's "Comedies & Proverbs" series—a collection of six films the director made during the 1980s. Each of these films begins with a proverb, in the case of ''The Aviator's Wife'' this is: "On ne saurait penser à rien" or "It is impossible to think about nothing".

Plot

Twenty-year-old François is in love with the fiercely independent 25-year-old Anne. One morning, Anne's airline-pilot ex, Christian, visits her to tell her that it is over between them and that he will return to his wife. François just happens to see the two leave Anne's building together and becomes obsessed with the idea that she is cheating on him. As he strolls aimlessly through the streets of Paris, he catches sight of Christian in a café with another woman. As they leave and jump on a bus, François decides to follow them. A 15-year-old girl he has never met, Lucie, figures out what he is up to and playfully joins in with his amateur espionage. Throughout the day, their stories and explanations for Christian's action become increasingly complex and outlandish. Eventually, they lose track of Christian in a taxi and they both leave, promising to write to each other if they ever discover what Christian was really up to. François returns to Anne where he learns that all was not as it seemed between Christian and the blonde woman (it is revealed to be his sister). The two mend their relationship, though Anne appears hurt after François begrudgingly tells her about the afternoon he spent with Lucie. Later that night, François goes to Lucie's flat seemingly to place a postcard in her mailbox directly, saving money on a stamp. He spots Lucie embracing a young man (who is coincidentally a co-worker of François'), obviously returning from a date. He leaves, considers tossing the postcard, and stops on the way home to buy a stamp and posts it to her.

Cast

Background

After completing his "Six Moral Tales" series in 1972 with '' Love in the Afternoon'', Rohmer spent the remainder of the decade filming historical literary adaptations, such as ''

The Marquise of O ''The Marquise of O'' () is a novella by Heinrich von Kleist on the subject of forced seduction. It was first published in 1808. Synopsis The story begins with a one-sentence paragraph – the widowed Marquise von O. places an announcement in t ...

'' (1976) and ''

Perceval le Gallois () is a 1978 historical drama film written and directed by Éric Rohmer, based on the 12th-century Arthurian romance ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'' by Chrétien de Troyes. Synopsis The film chronicles Percival's knighthood, maturation and ...

'' (1978). At the beginning of the next decade, the director returned to writing his own material and ''The Aviator's Wife'' is the first of the "Comedies & Proverbs" series.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 90% based on reviews from 10 critics.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

praised the film, particularly the acting, giving it 3.5 out of 4.

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

of the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

called it "A perfect film."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a positive review, but notes that there is a lot of talk, and that characters "express their fears and wishes in a relatively simple fashion" and that this "makes the material seem thin."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aviator's Wife, The 1981 films 1981 comedy-drama films 1981 romantic comedy films 1981 romantic drama films 1980s French-language films 1980s romantic comedy-drama films Films directed by Éric Rohmer Films produced by Margaret Ménégoz Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris French romantic comedy-drama films 1980s French films Les Films du Losange films