Here in the UK we've been enjoying warmer temperatures and some sun. In our newfound hope that nicer days are approaching, to get you in the mood for spring we're watching the 1986 French New Wave film Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray).
Delphine (Marie Rivière) embarks on a journey marked by vignettes of various relationships she finds herself enmeshed in as she works out her summer plans after a bad breakup.
The film is relatable and dryly funny while maintaining a cool air of solitude against the heat of summer, similar to Bergman's Summer with Monika (1953) that we watched last year.
The Green Ray plays with the temporality of summer, the kind of season we disappear into. Watching Delphine through the eyes of a grainy 16mm camera, director Éric Rohmer intended for her to 'blend into the crowd as a way, ultimately, of accentuating her isolation.’
By the film's end, her quest for a new relationship is foregrounded as she realises her true desires are deeper than that of a partner. Delphine wants to explore the world around her without the pressure of typical relationship expectations.
The film was shot on an extremely small budget, with the only real expense being travel for on-location filming in Biarritz, France. Almost all of the dialogue was completely improvised; whether or not Rohmer is your cup of tea, his commitment to naturalism is undisputed.
Originally a titan of the French New Wave, or Nouvelle Vague, Rohmer has a rich and significant history of filmmaking that is often overshadowed by his peers (though we do love you Goddard). Rohmer's films often empowered women’s sexuality at a time when Hollywood's prohibitive Hays Code was still enforced in many countries.
Delphine’s costume and appearance read as 1980s reinventions of various 1960s Nouvelle Vague stars in their own right. Sporting bright block colours and an incredible blue beret, Marie Rivière’s stage presence is both cool and seductive.
Taking inspiration, give the usual dusky spring shades a miss and dip into some bright reds and blue hues, like our Guinevere Cardigan or Dorothea Skirt in baby blue.
Fortunately for us, it's still cardigan weather, however The Green Ray leaves us yearning for warmer days.
Watch 'The Green Ray' on Internet Archive – Best, Ula
