The Aviator's Wife

The French film La femme de l'aviateur (1981) was shown in the U. S. with the translated title The Aviator's Wife. It was written and directed by Éric Rohmer.

Philippe Marlaud plays François, a young man who works at the post office while studying for law school. His girlfriend, Anne, is portrayed by Marie Rivière .

The relationship between François and Anne doesn't make sense. François is a decent, friendly guy. Anne is a sour, dissatisfied, misanthrope.

All of the characters in Rohmer's films talk and talk, and that's what we get in the first third and last third of the movie.

However, the film comes to life in the middle third, when Eric meets Lucie, portrayed perfectly by Anne-Laure Meury. They talk as well, but they also have sequences in a park where something actually happens.

There's no way that a romance could be sparked. In the film, Lucie is 15. Yes, she has a great outlook on life and is very creative. Still, she's 15 and Eric is 20, so the relationship couldn't work. However, the chemistry is there, and while Meury is on screen, the movie really is effective.

Rohmer was the last of the famous French New Wave directors. All of his "Six Moral Tales" films range from excellent to superb. When he had finished the six movies, he moved to three "Comedies and Proverbs." The Aviator's Wife was the first of these.

The film has a solid IMDb rating of 7.5. I would have rated it a 10 if Rohmer had showed us more of the relationship between François and Lucie. However, that's not the movie that Rohmer wrote and directed. I gave that movie an 8.