Rohmer, Eric (1920– )

French film director, screenwriter, and critic. Part of the French New Wave, his films are often concerned with the psychology of self-deception. They include Ma Nuit chez Maud/My Night at Maud's (1969), Le Genou de Claire/Claire's Knee (1970), Die Marquise von O/The Marquise of O (1976), and Conte d'été/A Tale of Summer (1996).

With La Boulangère de Monceau/The Baker of Monceau (1963), Rohmer began a series of intimate dramas known as Six Moral Tales, in which he dealt with highly personal emotional or moral situations, usually involving independent young women. Other series include Comedies and Proverbs (1980–87) and Four Seasons (1989–97).

Rohmer was born in Nancy. He wrote a novel during the German occupation under the pen-name Gilbert Cordier. Having worked as a teacher, he cofounded the Gazette du cinéma in 1950 with Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette (1928– ), the same year making his directorial debut with the short Journal of a Scoundrel. The following year he joined the staff of Cahiers du cinéma, becoming one of its most perceptive critics and editing the journal 1956–63. He also co-wrote a study of Alfred Hitchcock with the director Claude Chabrol.

Rohmer made his feature debut with La Signe du Lion/The Sign of Leo (1959), in which he developed the economical, philosophical, conversational style that has characterized all his films, which he termed ‘a cinema of thoughts rather than actions’.

Later films include Quatre Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle/Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987), L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque (1993), and Rendez-vous de Paris (1995).