Episode 148: THE AVIATOR'S WIFE (1981)

Our first episode of Éric Rohmer’s 1980s at the Trylon kicks off with a newly-created 35mm print of THE AVIATOR’S WIFE! François thinks his girlfriend Anne is cheating on him (she kind of is… but she’s kind of also not his girlfriend? It’s very French), so he follows the other man, Christian, around Paris to catch him in the act. He crosses paths with Lucie, a student, whose curiosity convinces her to play along with François’s little game. What François and Lucie learn about Christian and Anne isn’t nearly as interesting as what they learn about each other as, conversation by conversation, they carve out images of one another as complex and unpredictable as the magically charming locales in which they have them. In our discussion of this humorous, dramatic, gut-wrenching paean to young love, naïveté, and Protagonist Syndrome, we discuss how the methodical movement of characters through the city and through the day helps build them in the way your own environment shapes you – externalities creating interiority. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Paris m'a séduit” performed by Arielle Dombasle with Jean-Louis Valéro from the THE AVIATOR’S WIFE soundtrack. Resources Éric Rohmer’s 1980s at the Trylon https://www.trylon.org/films/category/eric-rohmers-1980s/ “In the Moment: Marie Rivière in The Aviator’s Wife” by Matías Piñeiro for Film Comment https://www.filmcomment.com/article/in-the-moment-marie-riviere-in-the-aviators-wife/ “The Aviator’s Wife” review by Janet Maslin for The New York Times (Oct. 7, 1981) https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/07/movies/avaitor-s-wife-of-rohmer.html 0:00 - Episode 148: THE AVIATOR’S WIFE (1981) 5:00 - The episode actually starts 6:07 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary and thoughts on Rohmer from Trylon film programmer John Moret 9:32 - Thoughts on the print, paris in the 80s, & ‘anthropological’ films 15:17 - Transit as development 17:30 - Movement and pacing in a film all about dialogue 21:15 - The diner scene & slice of life vibes 25:10 - Comparisons to Wong Kar-wai, Richard Linklater, & more 30:29 - Naïveté, young love, and stages of maturity 35:25 - François and main character syndrome 43:35 - The invisible coercive forces that guide these dialogues 48:55 - How much gravity François gives his relationships 53:35 - The ending 58:37 - Final thoughts