Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)

One thing I particularly like about the Rohmer films I've seen so far - Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle included - is their understated, casual and, especially, light tone. Clearly, Rohmer is a philosophical director interested in topics like fate, coincidence, truth and many other things. But he is also a director with a rare attention towards the everyday, the everyday sense of talking, moving and encountering. In his films, things happen, but I rarely feel that I am lured into conventional Movie Enchantment. His films don't work like that, they don't revel in lush storytelling in which one gets the sense of stepping into a world of movie magic. And I like the fact that Rohmer is different in this sense, that his films are often so humble in tone. OK, the present film is no masterpiece, but it wasn't bad either. Mirabelle rides the bike in the countrysides but suddenly the bike breaks down with a flat tyre. A country girl, Reinette, passes by and helps her with the bike (the scenes about fixing the bike could be included in a Dardenne bros movie any day) and they quickly become friends. Mirabelle stays over and Reinette tells her about the blue hour, which is in reality a minute - if it is real - of silence during dawn. A minute of complete silence. The girls set the alarm clock and go out to experience this moment, but they don't, and Reinette is very disappointed. --- Somehow, I liked how this situation with the blue hour was depicted. I don't know what it was about, if it was about anything, but I liked how it all played out, how serenity suddenly turned into disappointment, how their pespectives changed, nature being what it always was. The best moments are during the beginning of the film. Reinette takes Mirabelle for a walk in the village. They talk to the neighbors, inquiring them about what they do and then it starts to rain. A magical, slice-of-life scene that doesn't try to much. ---  The end of the film? I wasn't so thrilled about it. The jokes appeared crude and their quirkiness didn't appeal to me at all.