Andres Salama A relatively unknown effort from 1987 by French director Eric Rohmer is slight but worthwhile. The four "adventures" of the title are really slight stories which our two protagonists go through, with some moral lesson to be learned.In the first episode, the tough, sophisticated law student Mirabelle (Jessica Forde) goes to the countryside where she meets Reinette, a painter and naive country girl (played by Joelle Miquel, who is great).The next three episodes have Mirabelle returning to her native Paris bringing the innocent Reinette along her. A lot of the situations have to do on how the natural country honesty of Reinette is tested in the cynical big city. The episode I liked best was the second one, in which Reinette has to deal with a very rude waiter at a bar. The third one (which is mostly about how Mirabelle decides to help a shoplifter to Reinette's dismay) is weaker, but the final episode, in which Reinette tries to sell her paintings to an art dealer despite having put on herself a vow of silence, is fine.Some actors from previous Rohmer movies (like Beatrice Romand, Marie Riviere and Fabrice Luchini) have bit parts here.

realreel I'm a huge Rohmer fan. I've seen all of the Moral Tales, the Comedies & Proverbs and the Tales of the Four Seasons. I dislike this particular film tremendously. Along with "Rendez-Vous in Paris," it represents Rohmer at his worst... moralistic, pedantic and amateurish. I've seen better summer camp skits than the bit at the cafe, the scene at the train station and the business at the art gallery. Frankly, with the exception of "The Blue Hour", the project is a wash. Joelle Miquel and Philippe Laudenbach deliver terrible, over-the-top performances, and even the great Fabrice Luchini seems foolish and out of place. Jessica Forde is passable as the jaded town rat. The only stand out (at least in a positive sense) is Marie Riviere who, as always, is entirely believable.I'm not sure why this project got such a high IMDb rating. I can only think that people like the two-name films ("Celine and Julie", "Fanny and Alexander", etc.) because they sound whimsically playful. Rohmer has an excellent sense of humor (e.g., Conte d'ete, Boyfrends and Girlfriends, etc.), but this is not a delightful little caprice. With the exception of the first 20 minutes or so, it's a student project. Note also the horrendous original electronic music. Rohmer often refrains entirely from the use of music, and this is one case where he should have shown his usual restraint.

Aw-komon I read in a short critique of Rohmer recently the perfect sentence to describe his work and how to approach it: "It is when we let Rohmer's irony (the incongruence of his characters) be a seed of self-reflection within ourselves that his films take on a transcendent dimension." The transcendent dimension that all great works of art have is there but you have to let the irony become a seed of self-reflection first, you have to actively participate, hence the reason why many people find Rohmer's films boring. They don't even realize what they're missing and don't want to know! The closer a Rohmer film is to soap opera on the surface and the less offbeat it is the more money it makes (the recent "Autumn's Tale" made a very impressive 2 million dollars on the art-house circuit but I, for one, thought it was just o.k.), but ALL of them have depth if you look for it.Rohmer's films slowly and quietly build into elaborate structures of subtly hilarious sophistication which get better with each viewing (letting the irony really take root and become a seed of self-reflection). They are all (on the surface at least) very similar: done low-budget but with quietly superb and magnificent cinematography, maximum conversation, minimum hi-jinks or action, relying on subtlety and the viewer's undivided attention and engagement to reveal their deep humor and depth. All of Rohmer's films make fun of human folly and vanity in a way that's entirely unprecedented, true-to-life, and unique in the cinema. Critics have labeled the term 'classicist' on his head but I don't know of any filmmakers or artists, outside of some of the great satirical novelists of the 19th century, who have approached their subject in this way. There is an incredible amount of pure cinema in Rohmer but done in a way that's completely invisible when the viewer's not seeking it out, absolutely devoid of any tendencies to show-off and draw attention to itself. "Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle" is about two young girls, one a surrealistic-painter from the country, the other-- a law-student from Paris , both very pretty and charming, who strike up a friendship and go through a few neurotic and enlightening incidents together both in the city and the country: trying to wake up at the moment of absolute silence every morning when night-birds stop chirping and morning birds are still asleep; dealing with a rude Paris cafe waiter; dealing with pan-handlers trying to hustle them for change; moral dilemmas about shoplifting; selling Reinette's painting without her having to speak one word to the gallery owner because she's sticking to a vow of silence she made the day before; etc. The Very Funny and valuable results are captured by Rohmer in his trademark, meditative, and un-intrusive style. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Jonathan Doron I think I used the same words about Eric Rohmer's Conte d'hiver, who also directed this movie, about two friends who meet in the country and later live together in Paris, consists of 4 segments. All four slow-paced and totally true to life. The two great actresses, the dialogs and the storylines themselves are all taken out of life, almost documentary-like. I liked the third one the most. It is a true joy to see these two different friends. They are a quiet couple in Paris quite different from the the two friends in also recommended La Vie Revee Des Anges.