Boyfriends and Girlfriends · reception & legacy

How Boyfriends and Girlfriends has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Received in 1987 as one of the lighter, breezier entries closing out Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs, it has since climbed into favourite-Rohmer territory — now routinely recommended as the ideal gateway into his whole filmography.

What's debated

It's a flashpoint in the eternal Rohmer debate — whether his endlessly talking, self-deceiving young people are insufferable or the whole delicious point — plus a friendly skirmish over whether it or Le Rayon vert is the peak of the Comedies and Proverbs.

Its footprint

Its pastel colour-coded wardrobes and sunlit new-town backdrops are endlessly screencapped, a staple of 'Rohmer summer' mood boards and film-fashion posts, with the planned city of Cergy-Pontoise functioning almost as a character in its own right.

Where it stands

The final Comedy and Proverb and a certified Letterboxd darling — the 'start here' Rohmer that cinephiles press on friends who think they don't like Rohmer.