Turfseer In French it's called "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" and it's set around the time the movie was made in 1987.  We meet Blanche (played with great intensity by Emmanuelle Chaulet) who lives in a new town near Paris, Cergy-Pontoise (known for its ultra-modern architecture).  She's an ordinary civil servant working in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.  When she runs into a slightly younger college student at a computer school, Lea, they strike up a fast friendship.  Keep in mind that for those who are looking for a lot of action and sudden plot reversals, you will not find it here.  Boyfriends and Girlfriends is primarily dialogue driven as well as an intimate character study and if you are willing to put up with the glacial pacing, then you will find this film quite compelling.  We soon discover that Lea is quite different than her newly found friend, Blanche.  Lea is a 'player' and she bemoans the fact that her current boyfriend, Fabien, has "no initiative" and with him, all her games "fall flat".   She hints that maybe an older man would suit her better.  Blanche, on the other hand, has fallen for Alexandre, a slightly older guy who has a Ph.D in engineering and works for the local 'Power and Light' company. From the get go, Lea recognizes that Alexandre is not Blanche's type since he's a "ladies man" and is  "not serious minded".  Blanche, however, sticks to her adolescent infatuation and when they both run into the handsome Lothario at a local restaurant, she's tongue-tied and comes to the conclusion that she's made a fool of herself in his eyes.  Lea soon announces to Blanche that she's taking a vacation to get away from Fabien.  She reasons that perhaps there are more fish in the sea that she can catch.  Lea gives Blanche her French Open ticket, where she sits next to Fabien and a disinterested Alexandre who's with a friend, Adrienne. Later, Adrienne, a gossip, urges Blanche to go after Fabien; while her remarks are inappropriate, she still serves up the prescient remark that Fabien and Lea are "trapped".  Soon, Blanche and Fabien end up seeing each other.  They enjoy windsurfing together, a sport which Lea has no interest in.  Before you know it, Blanche and Fabien find that they like each other more and more.  Before kissing Fabien, Lea cries not because they're "tears of joy' but rather she still has some "silly girlish ideas" (her infatuation with Alexandre).  Blanche can't repress her sexual desires for Fabien so she sleeps with him but makes him promise that it's a one time deal and that he shouldn't tell Lea or anyone else about their rendezvous.  Soon we realize that Rohmer's strategy is to document the crisis for these four young people in the summer before they "commit" to one another.  Lea makes one last attempt to get back with Fabien but soon afterward at a café, reveals to Blanche that she's left him for good.  And after Alexandre joins them at the café, Blanche realizes (after listening to Alexandre's banter) that she's been deluding herself about him, all along.  Blanche actually gets physically sick and excuses herself from the table, leaving Lea and Alexandre to find out whether they're really meant for one another.In probably the best scene in the film, Lea proves that she has the mettle to go 'toe to toe' with Alexandre. Her gambit is to confirm that Alexandre has no interest in Blanche. He immediately denies that he ever displayed any interest in her ("Did I lead her on?") and then bluntly states that "she's boring". Alexandre asks Lea if she'd like to come over to his place and Lea smartly replies, "I'm too young to set up house".Lea and Alexandre's conversation is interrupted by a scene with Blanche and Adrienne. Rohmer establishes that Adrienne is the odd woman out. Unlike the two couples, she's basically a fool who's not serious about getting involved in a relationship. Adrienne mentions a "young painter—he seems sensitive" and Rohmer mocks her by utilizing a fade out to end the scene as she continues blabbing about nothing (the only time Rohmer appears to 'fade out' in the entire film).We cut back to Lea and Alexandre's extended conversation—Lea states she likes to be wooed and wonders why Alexandre never did anything "wild" months before. He snaps his fingers and humorously offers a 'wild scenario': "Let's runaway. I'll kidnap you"! Lea doesn't find this "wild" at all so Alexandre bluntly states, "come live with me". Lea concedes that "she might" but it won't be for six months. Alexandre has met his match. Lea offers a deal where they both agree not to see anyone else for six months.Meanwhile, Blanche meets Fabien and confesses that she was in "love with an image" and now realizes that Alexandre wasn't for her all along. The crisis continues for a moment when Blanche misunderstands Lea when they meet (she believes Lea has been talking about Fabien but actually was talking about Alexandre all along).Rohmer wraps things up nicely with a pleasant, happy ending. Lea and Blanche's friendship remains solid despite being sorely tested by their decision to begin new relationships. The bigger picture is that both couples are now ready to shack up for the long-term. Rohmer suggests that even the philandering Alexandre is ready to commit as he has met his match with Lea. And Blanche and Fabien, the ones who refuse to 'play act', find mutual attraction through their mutual 'sensitive' nature.Boyfriends and Girlfriends could have used a little tighter editing especially in regards to the long-winded exposition; but with its great dialogue and Rohmer's ability to chronicle each characters' inner turmoil, this is a worthwhile film for the discerning and patient film goer!

Ilpo Hirvonen Eric Rohmer was more than one of the directors who formed the French New Wave. He also wrote a lot of surveys and articles about cinema, especially about his favorite director, F.W. Murnau, out who he wrote his dissertation. His first article that got published in the year 1948 was titled (directly translated:) "Film, art of space." In the year 1962 Eric Rohmer published his academic survey called: "The construction of space in Murnau's Faust." While reading about his surveys and articles, it's no surprise that space in Rohmer's films seems to be as important as the plot.Eric Rohmer's career started with problems, and it wasn't going forward. But when he got off the ground, he proceeded more purposefully than anyone. When the new wave era ended in 1964, the directors of it started eventually finding their own path. Eric Rohmer started his series of six film, The Moral Tales and continued with Comedies & Proverbs in the 1980's. L'ami de mon amie (My Girlfriend's Boyfriend) is sixth and the last one in the series. It builds around the proverb: "My friends' friends are my friends." The comical situations emerge between two women who unintentionally swap boyfriends.Two women suddenly meet while having lunch. One of the two women is Blanche, she is a skinny, uptight young woman, who is still searching for herself. The other is Lea, she's self-confident and a very feminine person. They both have something going on with men, so the main characters have their opponents; shy Fabien and a true player, Alexandre.While trying to figure out the space of My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, I can't miss the futuristic city the characters live in. I got the feeling that Eric Rohmer isn't trying to tell a story of four specific people who live in France. To me he's telling about all the people living in these suburbs of Paris. The space of a futuristic city, the city full of postmodern architecture without any past. This theme of the milieu leads to rootlessness. The people of this city have no past, each of them like to analyze and talk about themselves. But none of them really know who they are.My Girlfriend's Boyfriend offered these kind of things for me. In addition to its intelligent narrative, it is full of hilarious comical situations. Eric Rohmer builds four very interesting characters which will take you on board."My friends' boyfriends are my boyfriends."

LeRoyMarko I love Rohmer's films. Even more those in the cycle Comedies and Proverbs. They're dissertations about love, friendship and the fine line between the two. In Rohmer's world, love and what leads to it is comparable to an algebraic formula: A is to C what B is to A. Again in this one, a lot of interesting dialog, in which every line incites us to reflect. Like this one: "Maybe it's because I didn't love her anymore that I went back with her". In fact, dialog and interaction between the characters are the only thing that matter in this movie. Everything else his not important. And as for characters, there is just a few, so you get to know them. You know what they want and how they react when they get it.Out of 100, I gave it 76. That's good for **½ out of ****. Seen at home, in Toronto, on November 26th, 2004.

tharsis-1 A young woman, Blanche (Emmanuelle Chaulet), is working in the City Hall of the New Town of Cergy Pontoise, in the north west of Paris, on the banks of the river Oise. Alone, recently arrived in the Parisian Region, she befriended another young woman, a computer science student finishing its school, Lea (Sophie Renoir) with which she met her boyfriend Fabien (Eric Viellard), and an acquaintance of the couple, Alexandre (François-Eric Gendron). The French title (l'ami de mon amie, the friend of her friend) is more explicit than the American or English one. (Boyfriends and Girlfriends): A reference to the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' but distorted to 'the friend of my friend is my friend'. This title, an example of the irony of Eric Rohmer, the boyfriend of my friend could become my (boy)friendThis film belongs to the cycle Comedies and Proverbs, the former term being as important as the latter one in order to understand the meaning of the film. This cycle, filmed in the eighties followed the precedent older cycle, six Moral Tales. Where as the latter concentrated on middle aged married man tempted by another woman but who finally, in relief, returned to his wife, Rohmer in the series of Comedies and Proverbs, turns his attention towards younger female characters. But because it is comedy, the tone is also much lighter and ironic. Here he examines the sexual freedom, (which in fact he disapproves but never condemns overtly in his films), its consequences and how the younger generation is trying to live with a new set of rules.One of these rules, never sleeps with the friend of her or his friend, as often, in earlier time with the traditional moral, is finally broken. But there is more than a tale of love and seduction. It is a study of characters and how love creates a web of relationship among this small group of young urban professionals. As the relationships between them evolve the spectator finally feels some sympathy for the protagonists, at first not very likable. Especially Blanche who is the center of the entire plot, if one can tell of real plot in Rohmer film. Alone self-pitying, infatuated with the irritating, pretentious, serial seducer Alexandre, she blossoms when stricken by real love. She is opposed to her friend yet rival, Lea, physically as well mentally. With dark hair and tall, Lea is freer sexually than the small light-haired Blanche awaiting the great love for two years. The quest of Blanche is the perfect true love, not just an adventure. Ironically, at first she blindly falls in love with the great local seducer Alexandre.With discreet symbolism, Rohmer gives clues about the different players. Blanche (white in french), around whom the whole film revolves demands only a pure love. As Delphine in Summer (Le Rayon Vert), the precedent film of the same cycle, the very absence of love, this void, fills here with anguish. Its flat at Cergy Saint Christophe is decorated in minimalist white fashion, thus emphasizing the loneliness of its life. Blanche and Léa sport alternatively the same colors, green and blue, this swap of colors underlining the possible swap of boyfriends.Rohmer, because of its interest in urbanization (the DVD version contains a documentary he made earlier on industrial aesthetics), sets the action of the film in the New Town of Cergy-Pontoise, described as a quiet, modern, ultra clean Utopia. In fact the spectator sees the town only through Blanche eyes, mainly the pedestrian streets around the center, the banks of the river Oise, the Ricardo Bofil buildings where she lives. But I don't think the Cergy depicted could be viewed, as often said, as a reflection of a superficiality of its young 'yuppies' characters. The purpose of Rohmer was to see the impact of modern architecture on love life. But the answer is in the film: It changes nothing. On the contrary it amplifies or underlines the love relationship between the different characters.'L'ami de mon amie 'is an extremely enjoyable film, full of charm, thanks to the direction of Eric Rohmer and the talent of its young actresses, then in theirs early twenties, like the young women they play. The frozen moment of happiness at the end of the film, just before the credits contributes to its charm. But it is problematic: Have the protagonist found enduring love? Will their love relationship and in the same time, their friendship endure the strain of time? Nothing in fact is sure as irony is always present. But if ironic, Rohmer doesn't despise his characters. On contrary he shows a real tenderness and comprehension towards them, especially Blanche.One of the lighter films of Rohmer, of course very talkative, it is characteristic of all its work, with good mannered young people in search of love while searching themselves. Because of the minimalist direction, it has not aged much since its shot in middle of the eighties. Yet, you can glimpse of the fashion of its period in the clothes of the players if you pay attention on certain details Nowadays, Cergy has aged and worn out a little. Never the modern utopia ironically depicted by Rohmer, it is still a well maintained active town.