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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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.
The movie is about four young adults acting like adolescents. They pair up, break up, and come back together again. They talk, talk, talk, mostly about each other.
The two men are Philippe Beuzen as Bertrand and Christian Charrière as Guillaume. The two women are Catherine Sée as Suzanne and Diane Wilkinson as Sophie. It's interesting to me that none of the four had a successful film career following this movie.
This film has a borderline IMDb rating of 7.0. I didn't think it was that good and rated it 6. My thought is that the only reason to see this film is to complete your viewing of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales.
There is a great deal of narration in the film and we are privy to Bertrand's thoughts and feelings as he sorts out for himself what is right and what is wrong. Suzanne is sweet but seemingly rather passive and easily exploited and we root for her to assert herself, and in typical Rohmer style we don't have to wait very long. This is a lovely film and, though it goes on a bit too long in pursuing its resolution, the ending is deliciously satisfying.
Watching "Suzanne's Career" reminds me of a home movie--a very good home movie, but a home movie nonetheless. It appears to have been made using an 8mm camera, is quite grainy, have occasionally sloppy edits and has no titles or introduction. The camera also appears to have been hand-held at times and is, occasionally, a bit jerky. Because of all these factors and the non-professional style of the acting, it's not very easy to take this film seriously. The way I see it, it's a way for Eric Rohmer fans to see his early works in order to see how much he improved and evolved over the next few decades. And because of all this, it's NOT a movie for the casual viewer--more for the die-hard Rohmer fans. And, because I assume this was only made for Rohmer and his New Wave buddies, I really don't think it's possible to score this one.
By the way, twice in the film the line "Girls like to be forced" was repeated. How very progressive!!
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 The Collector (1967)
Details
- Runtime
- 54m
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1