My Night at Maud’s is one giant conversation. When describing a film, such a statement sounds like an insult. But all great things in life have come from simple conversations. They have revealed remarkable truths and emotions in people throughout history, and Eric Rohmer’s film does the same in remarkably fluid, natural, and intelligent dialogue. My Night at Maud’sput the new wave French director on the map and likely inspired equally thought provoking and inventive works such as My Dinner With Andre and Before Sunset.

Rohmer avoids the meet-cute and in this spontaneous instant of dialogue, he establishes his film as one about chance, probability, fate and principles. Jean-Louis meets with an old friend Vidal (Antoine Vitez), and they discuss Pascal, his theory, and what Jean-Louis feels to be Pascal’s peculiar views on Christianity.  

They have dinner at Maud’s (Francoise Fabian) house, a sexy divorcee who’s had a fling with Vidal, and the conversation appears seamlessly transposed. There is no lag, no loss of context or mood. Rohmer’s film is inventive in the way it structures a conversation without the necessity of keeping everything in one scene, one shot, one real-time moment. The editing is inspired in the way it preserves the tension of intelligent, philosophical discussion. How he then matters to work in plot and character development is beyond me. 

But contained within his affair with Maud is the theme of choice on principal that stretches across Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, My Night at Maud’s being the third in the series. Jean-Louis is faced with a woman appealing to his senses, to his values, to his character and to his ideals; his principles and morals then lock him into remaining faithful in body and mind. But life is hardly so black and white. Here he sits with Maud, having a loving conversation, and the pair questions each other’s morals and ideas with their unbridled charm. This is also because the performances are masterstrokes.  

The film is being re-screened by the BFI starting on 23 July, and Rohmer’s films, in no matter the order, must be watched. Few other directors are as adept at allowing their audience to inhabit the characters the way Rohmer does, and his characters are worth knowing.

Catch My Night at Maud’s at the BFI Southbank, London and other participating venues across the country from July 23.