Themes: Lovers Reunited, Love Triangles, Infidelity
Main Cast: Bernard Verley, Zouzou, Francoise Verley, Daniel Ceccaldi, Malvina Penne
Release Year: 1972
Country: FR
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Eric Rohmer ends his cycle of "Six Moral Tales" with this delightful film starring Bernard Verley as Frederic, a happily married man who discovers that he can't stop looking at beautiful women. As he says in a voiceover, "I feel marriage closes me in, cloisters me, and I want to escape." His escape comes to him in the form of Chloe (Zouzou), a woman from his past. Chloe had left for America as a successful model but has now returned to Paris, bored with her life and saddled with a man she doesn't love. Although Frederic is reluctant to see her at first, they agree to meet in the afternoons -- just to talk. He feels a freedom with her that he doesn't experience with anyone else because they have, he thinks, no commitments to each other. So, they talk of their problems and their relationships and, before long, Frederic finds that he is becoming increasingly attracted to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Eric Rohmer's lovely and understated Chloe in the Afternoon paints a sincere portrait of the temptations of marital infidelity by treating the decision to be unfaithful as a true choice, not merely an unavoidable impulse to be indulged on a whim. Such a stance isn't surprising considering the film is one of the writer/director's "Moral Tales," but the manner in which the story coaxes us into identifying with Frederic's (Bernard Verley) dilemma is both realistic and compelling. Rather than portraying the negative consequences of infidelity after the fact (as many films do by punishing characters for their transgressions), Chloe in the Afternoon is about the alluring and insinuating process of temptation, and whether doing what is right can be achieved over doing what is easy. Just how far Frederic is willing to take his afternoon encounters with Chloe (Zouzou) remains in doubt until the finish, and when the moment of truth finally arrives, his decision is reflected in a brilliantly subtle visual expression of sudden revelation. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
