One of the things Rohmer does which I have not seen with any other director is to take a location, seemingly dull, far from beautiful and somehow he renders it of utmost important to his story. In 'La femme d'aviateur' it's the interiors of Paris apartments and a moderate park in Paris called Le Parc de Buttes Chaumont. In 'Pauline a la plage' and 'Le Rayon Vert' there is an emphasis on the changes in people when you take them out of their daily routine and normal environment, specifically when they are on vacation, a very important part of French life.

In this film 'Les nuits de la pleine lune' (Full Moon in Paris) and L'ami de mon amie', he films relatively new suburbs of Paris with new ideas on architecture, new ideas on living and with young successful people. Most directors would never bother to even visit these grotesque modern suburbs, let alone film a film there. However it works with this film and L'ami de mon amie'. Why I don't know, but we know that it is a crucial element to the emotional journey of the main character in this film - her displacement between Paris and the suburbs. She prefers the chaos of Paris to the straight lines and cubism of her suburban apartment.

I thought Pascale Ogier was fantastic as the lead in this film. I think Rohmer has a fantastic knack for choosing lead woman, with only one exception in my mind to this rule. They are usually petite, fragile, mystically beautiful.....What I thought of when watching Pascale Ogier as Louise was a cat. Her slinky movements, her lazy eyes, her calmness, her desire for space - not your average women. I read just one year after making the film she died of a heart attack at the age of 26.

All in all an average or above average Rohmer film (which it not a bad thing). It sweeps over you with it's subtle charms and before you know it you will be under the film's spell.

This story is about a couple living together. Over and over, Louise tells Remi that she loves him but their lives are so different it's hard to imagine them staying together. She loves to party and he's a real home body. In fact, she loves living "the single life" so much, she's arranged to have an apartment for herself in Paris so she can stay there much of the time--all the while insisting that she loves Remi. He begs her to stay, but she insists on spending part of her life in town alone. Well, over time, she slowly begins to pull away from him--especially when she starts to suspect HE might be cheating on her (though SHE was the one who made all the arrangements to make it possible for her to do the cheating). So, since she assumes he's cheating, she picks a guy to sleep with--no love--just a one night stand. Well, she returns home to Remi only to discover that he, too, is having an affair but his is very serious and he asks her to leave. This seems to be a great example of the old saying "be careful what you ask for--you might just get it".

The acting is good and the story pretty involving. I like it because nothing in the movie happens by accident--Louise sets everything in motion and then is surprised when the life she chose occurs. There's a lot of irony and some lessons about relationships here.

PS--this is NOT a good film for kids. First, they would be bored by the story and because you get to see a pretty explicit view of Louise late in the film. Be forewarned.

Expecting to find all the extras in the DVD box set to be placed in the final,I was surprised to find a bonus DVD inside the case for the 4th title in Éric Rohmer's loose series,which led to me looking up at the moon in Paris.

The plot:

While happy with her boyfriend Remi,Louise is unable to brush away a desire to have her own personal space.Moving away to her own flat in Paris,Louise makes a deal with Remi,that they will only break up if either of them falls in love with someone else.Moving away from Remi,Louise soon discovers that this deal will have to be faced earlier than she expected.

View on the film:

Spending most of the movie in flats, (with the odd breakout of dancing at parties in the outside world) writer/director Éric Rohmer and cinematographer Renato Berta sterilise Louise's rooms,which are breached out in saturated whites and dour blacks.Leaving Louise on her own,Rohmer boils up a minimalist atmosphere that cuts any music from the soundtrack and leaves Louise's hollow footsteps as the lone sound. Spanning a number of months,the screenplay by Rohmer captures Louise's belief of everything remaining still,whilst she takes her own sidetracks.Whilst this does catch some of Louise "in the moment" thinking,it also leads to an emotional depth between Louise and Remi never fully being explored. For his major auteur focus on the bourgeoisie,Rohmer gives Louise's relationships a bitter after taste,but disappointingly keeps the focus on the incredibly dry surface of Louise's life,as a full moon appears in Paris.