Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)

This is also known, more faithfully to the original French, as Love in the Afternoon, but I prefer the title not taken by an unrelated Billy Wilder movie. I hadn't set out to start at the end of Éric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series; it's just the one I'd most heard about, even more than My Night at Maud's. And if Chris Rock remade it in 2007, it must have some enduring value.

Frédéric seems like a fine husband and father, but he rather misses the thrills of being unattached. Enter Chloé, homeless ex-girlfriend of a friend of Frédéric. The two of them start meeting in secret with an emotional intimacy that Frédéric doesn't share even with his wife, Hélène, but he still loves Hélène too much to pursue a ménage à trois. Unfortunately, Chloé is less satisfied with the arrangement. She has more new-wave ideas, if you will, about what their relationship can be....

Between the R rating and the famous photo of Chloé naked on a bed (which does indeed happen on screen), I was expecting a pretty steamy picture. Yet multiple female nude shots from behind failed to turn me on, and that was about the extent of it. Maybe you need less particular taste than mine. At any rate, I might as well tell you that she and Frédéric never go all the way.

Indeed, one reason I've waited a while to write this review is that hardly anything happens, dramatic or comedic. The most interesting segment occurs early on in Frédéric's imagination. The ending doesn't look much like an ending to me. While the runtime is only 97 minutes, I considered cutting it short.

OK, I will grudgingly admit to a few strengths. The two main characters are both distinctly developed and relatable. I could easily see the story unfolding in real life. That's probably why it's so popular in the realm of artistic cinema.

Nevertheless, if this is the crème de la crème of Rohmer, I'm not going to bother with the rest of his oeuvre. I might just be done with the French New Wave in general.