The friendship of Bertrand and Guillaume is complicated when the womanizing Guillaume begins to pursue a charming girl named Suzanne.The friendship of Bertrand and Guillaume is complicated when the womanizing Guillaume begins to pursue a charming girl named Suzanne.The friendship of Bertrand and Guillaume is complicated when the womanizing Guillaume begins to pursue a charming girl named Suzanne.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #344.
- Quotes
Guillaume: [after spanking Suzanne's behind] Don't pout. Its was just a joke.
Suzanne: I don't like jokes in bad taste.
Guillaume: If I had good taste, I wouldn't like you.
Suzanne: Well, what counts is that you like me.
Guillaume: I'm beginning to wonder.
Suzanne: If you don't, there are plenty of others who do.
Guillaume: Pimply-faced kids.
Suzanne: Not at all. As good as you. Better, even.
Guillaume: [to Bertrand] The girl's no dummy. She can hold her own.
- ConnectionsFollowed by La collectionneuse (1967)
More concerned with character than plot, Rohmer gives us healthy servings of pettiness, ego, condescension and denial served up by a self absorbed threesome blind to every one's view but their own. Less than an hour long (Rohmer time) the pace is still slow and the characters repetitious bad habits irritating but if one remains patient is rewarded with an ending rich in truth.
While the more polished, bigger budgeted and lengthier later tales such as Claire's Knee and Love in the Afternoon have a more professional patina about them Susann sans all these trappings is still told in the same Rohmer unique way.
The films of Erich Rohmer are an acquired taste. In Night Moves (75), a hard boiled private investigator played by Gene Hackman says viewing a Rohmer film is like watching paint dry. For twenty years I agreed with this assessment. I may still, but once dried and finished I now see a work of interesting art that is both challenging and pure.
Susanne is an interesting sketch but for those unfamiliar with Rohmer, I would recommend any of the last three of the six tales first for their accessibility. Watch one and if it doesn't agree with you, wait ten to twenty years and try again. In Rohmer's case patience is a necessity.
Details
- Runtime54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1