My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend [L’Ami de Mon Amie] [Boyfriends and Girlfriends] **** (1987, Emmanuelle Chaulet, Sophie Renoir, Anne-Laure Meury) – Classic Movie Review 8428

The 1987 My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend [L’Ami de Mon Amie] [Boyfriends and Girlfriends] is yet another in French writer-director Eric Rohmer’s superb series of gentle tales of love and life in France. It stars Emmanuelle Chaulet, Sophie Renoir, Anne-Laure Meury, Eric Vieillard and François-Eric Gendron.

It is the The last of Rohmer’s six Comédies et Proverbes series of the Eighties, following The Aviator’s Wife (1981), A Good Marriage (1982), Pauline at the Beach (1983), Full Moon in Paris (1984) and Le Rayon Vert [The Green Ray] [Summer] (1986).

As ever, the themes and central problems Rohmer deals with are very every-day, universal ones in his story of the romantic entanglements of two pairs of teenage lovers in the outskirts of Paris who find themselves swapping partners.

In the merry-go-round of love, young clerk Blanche (Emmanuelle Chaulet) befriends the lively Lea (Sophie Renoir), who is going steady with Fabien (Eric Vieillard) whose friend Alexandre (François-Eric Gendron) is going steady with Adrienne (Anne-Laure Meury) but is loved by Blanche.

As writer, Eric Rohmer is hardly concerned with plot at all, and as director his camera is as restrained as possible. But he subtly creates gentle situations and teasing ambiguities that enhance the naturalness of the acting in an appealing, affecting film.

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend [L’Ami de Mon Amie] [Boyfriends and Girlfriends] is directed by Eric Rohmer, runs 103 minutes, is made by Les Films du Losange, Investimage and Compagnie Eric Rohmer, is released by Acteurs Auteurs Associés (1987) (France), Artificial Eye (1988) (UK) and Orion Classics (1988) (US), is written by Eric Rohmer, is shot by Bernard Lutic and Sabine Lancelin (assistant camera), is produced by Margaret Ménégoz, is scored by Jean-Louis Valéro and designed by Sophie Mantigneux.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8428

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