Sightlines · reception
How Boyfriends and Girlfriends was received
1987 · Éric Rohmer · Boyfriends and Girlfriends on Sightlines
The arc
Received in 1987 as one of the lighter, breezier entries closing out Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs, it has since climbed into favorite-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 color-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.
Did you know? Rohmer's fascination with the setting predates the film: in 1975 he made a French TV documentary series about the new towns ('villes nouvelles') being built around Paris, and a decade later he set this entire film in one of them, Cergy-Pontoise.