Felicie (Charlotte Véry),another of Eric Rohmer's attractive, smart, but terminally indecisive women is still feeling the effects of the abrupt end to her summer romance five years ago. Having mistakenly given her lover Charles (Frédéric van den Driessche) the wrong address as he was leaving for the U.S., she cannot really love other men and holds onto a strong belief that Charles will one day show up and all will be right with the world. Eric Rohmer's second film in his Four Seasons series, A Tale of Winter, is one of his most engaging romances, a film that like the Shakespeare play of the same name, postulates that passion and strong intention can lead to totally unexpected results.

The opening sequence shows Charles and Felicie enjoying the sun, making love, then parting at the end of their vacation. The scene then shifts to Christmas in Paris five years later. Elise (Ava Lorachi),the daughter she had with Charles is now four years old and has seen her father only through photos. Felicie has two lovers but none suit her. Maxence (Michael Voletti) is a heavy set, not too deep hairdresser who is moving from Paris to Nevers and wants Felicie to come with him. She loves being with him but is not madly in love with him. After first saying no, she agrees to go to Nevers but once there, has yet another change of heart after an epiphany about Charles during a visit to a cathedral and returns to her mother in Paris.

Felicie's other suitor, Loic (Hervé Furic),is a bookish librarian who is obviously crazy about her but whom she just wants as a friend. He is a Catholic intellectual and Felicie is more free-spirited and they engage in typical Rohmerian exchanges about Christianity, reincarnation and the nature of the soul. A new awareness opens up when she visits the theater with Loic to see Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. When she sees King Leontes bring a statue of his wife to life after being told, ''It is required that you do awake your faith'', her own ability to "awake her faith" is evoked and leads to one of Rohmer's more upbeat and satisfying conclusions.

This French film, also known by some as either A Tale of Winter, or Conte d'hiver, was featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but I didn't know anything about it prior to reading about it, from director Eric Rohmer (My Night with Maud). Basically while on holiday Félicie (Charlotte Véry) meets and falls in love with cook Charles (Frédéric Van Den Driessche),they have a whirlwind holiday romance, but then after some time they are forced to go their separate ways, but she gives him her address. Time has passed, five years, and due to a mix-up he is not able to find or contact her, and it is now Christmas time, with Félicie living with her mother in Paris, where the weather is cold, and she also has a child born from the summer with the man she met. Félicie still manages to find herself male company and companionship, but she cannot choose between the two men which she would commit with, either hairdresser Maxence (Michel Voletti) or intellectual librarian Loïc (Hervé Furic),because she still hold on to the memory of Charles and what may have been between them. In the end of course Félicie realises she cannot be truly happy with either of them, and fortunately fate brings Charles back into her life, they settle back with each other like before, they get married and open a restaurant together. Also starring Ava Loraschi as Elise. I admit the story is a little slow for my liking, I didn't fully get what was going on to be absolutely honest, but once I got the gist of what the plot was I found it relatively interesting, I'm not sure if I would agree it being a must see film, or worthy of four stars out of five by critics, perhaps I should watch it again, but it was an alright romantic drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced and Best Foreign Language Film. Worth watching!

"A Tale of Winter" is a film that apparently several reviewers really liked here on IMDb. Well, as for me, I hated the film and found the characters to be rather annoying as well as difficult to believe or like.

When the film begins, Félicie is having a brief but wild affair with Charles. They barely know each other--and she doesn't even know his last name. When they depart, he gives her his address and she loses it...and they don't get back together.

Now it's five years later. Félicie has a child and Charles is the absent father. During this interim, two men have fallen for her. However, Félicie is only interested in them as friends and openly tells them both that her heart only belongs to Charles...a guy she barely knew and whose whereabouts are unknown. She also openly admits that she expects that he might just show up in the future and they'll live happily ever after...and because of this she won't commit to another man. As a result, her life and her child's are on hold...waiting and hoping for some miracle.

I found the main character to be incredibly childish and unlikable. She was a hopeless romantic...but also an immature mother and self- absorbed lady. Much of what she says throughout the film is pretentious and banal...particularly when she's trying to sound religious and insightful. Why the men in her life loved her, I have no idea...none...and that is a big weakness of the story. What made all this worse is that the director gave it all a fairy tale like ending. Had she lived waiting and waiting and ultimately wasted her life (like Miss Havisham from "Great Expectations"),I think I would have enjoyed the film much more because it would have seemed real. Instead, the movie seems to give hope to the dopey people of the world...people who refuse to grow up and face reality. Rarely does a film annoy me as much as this one did.