Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Love in the Afternoon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 9, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales from Criterion.

One of the rather interesting if simultaneously peculiar trivia points about world cinema is how fecund the French movie critic community has been in producing titans of film making. The iconic French publication Cahiers du Cinéma was a virtual hotbed of activity in this regard, and if names like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut may be at the apex of any list culled from those who began as writers for the magazine and who went on to storied careers in film, there are any number of others, including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and the man responsible for the six films (some shorts) in this collection, Éric Rohmer. Rohmer's fame may have at least temporarily eclipsed the likes of Godard and Truffaut, for a little while anyway, when the trifecta of My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, and Love in the Afternoon became international sensations as the sixties gave way to the seventies. An obituary for Rohmer in a major newspaper mentioned his "durability" and suggested that even if he didn't have the immediate name recognition of some of his peers, his work had outlasted any flash in the pan sensibility that may have attended releases of films by other former critics. Really fascinatingly in the "trivial pursuit" category is the fact that all six of the "tales" aggregated as exemplars of "morality" by Rohmer are based, at least tangentially, on F.W. Murnau's legendary Sunrise.

The English translation of Rohmer's La Collectionneuse may bring to mind other English language films (as I mentioned in the review of that film), and similarly the translated title of this Rohmer effort may instantly remind American film fans of Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon. Rather interestingly, the Wilder film kind of revolves around suspected marital infidelity in a Parisian setting, while Rohmer's outing offers a seemingly happily married man named Frédéric (Bernard Verley), who nonetheless fantasizes, kind of Walter Mitty style, about the veritable "road not taken", especially when he's surrounded by gorgeous French females.

In some ways, this is perhaps the most overt "retelling" of Murnau's tale, with Frédéric torn between his wife Hélène (played by Verley's real life spouse Françoise Verley), and an old acquaintance named Chloé (Zouzou), who initially at least seems to need Frédéric for room and board rather than any affections. That begins to morph as Frédéric finds himself strangely more "free" with Chloé than with Hélène, even if, somewhat like what transpires in Claire's Knee, things never get truly "intimate". This builds to a rather devastating finale that seems to suggest that despite that perception of French romantic sensibilities as somewhat "fast and loose", the "confines" of marriage are actually preferable to any temporary dalliances.

Love in the Afternoon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Love in the Afternoon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion's insert booklet states that "the restoration of all six films was undertaken by Les Films du Losange, with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)", and further specifies that this particular film was transferred in 2K from the original camera negative. This is another great looking presentation in color, though this film does not offer the same levels of scenic wonderment that its two predecessors in the Criterion Rohmer set do. There are recurrent outdoor moments here, but they're typically urban in nature, and really the bulk of the film plays out inside, as Frédéric pings pongs between Hélène and Chloé. Suffusion is quite appealing throughout, but this is another case where I personally felt the timing was just a tad too yellow at times. Detail levels are typically excellent, and grain resolves naturally throughout.

Love in the Afternoon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Love in the Afternoon features an LPCM Mono track in the original French that is very much in line with its more or less contemporaneous siblings in this set. There is some music in this enterprise, which sounds fine, but once again the bulk of the sound design is comprised of spoken material and occasional ambient environmental effects (most noticeably in some of the outdoor moments). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Love in the Afternoon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Criterion has packaged Claire's Knee and Love in the Afternoon together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which, while "officially" listed under one particular film, may be more general in nature.

Claire's Knee

• The Curve (1999) (HD; 16:46) is an interesting short that's actually the work of Edwige Shaki, which Rohmer edited.


• Le Journal du Cinéma (HD; 8:43) is from an episode of a 1970 French television series featuring interviews with Jean-Claude Brialy, Béatrice Romand and Laurence de Monaghan. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 2:40)

Love in the Afternoon

• Véronique and Her Dunce (1958) (HD; 18:22) follows the travails of a tutor.


• Afterword by Neil Labute (HD; 11:50) stems from 2006.


• Trailer (HD; 4:06)

Love in the Afternoon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've been married for a while, even if either fantasized or actual affairs have never entered the fray, you will probably find a lot in Love in the Afternoon will resonate. This is probably the most emotionally "mature" of the Six Moral Tales, even if it doesn't offer the visual blandishments of its two immediate predecessors. Technical merits are solid, and Love in the Afternoon comes Highly recommended.