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Derek Malcolm's rating
Astrea and Celadon are cross-dressed lovers
By
Derek Malcolm
11 Sep 2008
Eric Rohmer, scion of the French New Wave and long after, is now 88 and says this strange pastoral fantasy, based on a 17th-century novel by Honoré d’Urfe and set in the woodlands of fifth-century Gaul, may well be his last film.
Astrea (Stéphanie Crayencour) is a pretty shepherdess and Celadon (Andy Gillet) loves her dearly. Unfortunately he is observed flirting with someone else and tries to drown himself when she won’t forgive him.
He is rescued and nursed back to health by a group of nymphs and a wise old druid tells him that the rules of courtly love, which have made him determined to obey her by remaining out of her sight, can sometimes be disobeyed. So he disguises himself as a woman, approaches her and finds that she seizes upon him avidly. What does it matter if he’s changed sex?
Those who know Rohmer’s Moral tales well will detect in this dreamy fable some familiar musings on life, love and desire. But I wish the acting was less like amateur dramatics and the plot less like a slightly camp game.
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