Les Contes Secrets ou les Rohmeriens (2005)

Eric Rohmer is one of the best-respected filmmakers in the history of the French cinema, as well as among the most elusive. Notoriously reluctant to talk about his own work, Rohmer rarely sits for filmed interviews, but documentary filmmaker Marie Binet has taken another route to gain a perspective on the director's working methods in this feature. Les Contes Secrets ou les Rohmeriens features interviews with 16 actors who have appeared in Rohmer's films, and they talk on camera about his unusual working methods, his personality, and his spare but evocative signature style. Among the thespians who share their memories are Jean-Louis Trinitignant, Marie-Christine Barrault, Zouzou, Jean-Claude Brialy, Béatrice Romand, Françoise Fabian, and Andre Dussolier; the film also includes rare footage of Rohmer himself at work on the set of his 1978 effort Perceval. Les Contes Secrets ou les Rohmeriens received its North American premiere at the 2005 New Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi