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Eric Rohmer, one of the leaders of the French New Wave in cinema, died this week, on January 11, in Paris. Born in 1920, in Tulle, France, he began his career in film first as a reviewer, and then as a director. He wrote for Les Chahiers du Cinema, along with Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Claude Chabrol.

Although he was considered more conservative in his films than other members of the French New Wave, certainly he embraced the iconoclasm of the movement, with films focusing on characters who preferred long, introspective conversations to wild action. HCPL is fortunate to own several of his films, including the Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon. While his earlier films tended towards the conversational, his later films drifted towards the historical drama or romance, embodied by his last film, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon.

Labels: Cahiers du Cinema, Chloe in the Afternoon, Claire's Knee, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut, French cinema, French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, Romance of Astrea and Celadon