Ìý User Rating 
French New Wave director Eric Rohmer has always had a particular talent for transforming even the most inconsequential stories into fascinating portraits of the difficulties of choice and the moral complexity of making decisions.
In "The Green Ray", the fifth film in his series of Comédies et Proverbes, the choice that has to be made by heroine Delphine (Rivière) is seemingly simple - abandoned by the friend she was supposed to be holidaying with, Delphine has to make other plans for her summer vacation. Should she go to the beach, travel to Ireland, or stay in hot and humid Paris through August? The problem is, she just can't make up her mind.
Perhaps the playing cards she keeps discovering in the streets mean that luck, chance or fate might be about to step in and help her out. Or maybe, if she sees the legendary 'green ray' that sometimes appears as the sun sets, she'll be able to know her own heart.
What's so striking about Rohmer's wonderful film is its simplicity.
Following his tearful, bored and uncertain heroine through a succession of teeming holiday resorts and isolated country walks, Rohmer constructs a fascinating picture of isolation and loneliness that's eminently ponderous - but thoroughly engrossing. Partly this is because of the excellent performances (all of which are improvised). Yet it's also because this film of inaction addresses some of the fundamental issues of modern life.
Trapped through chance and overwhelmed by the multitude of empty consumer options that the leisure society offers her, Rivière's heroine is truly adrift in a sea of torturous boredom - it's a plight that's as instantly familiar as it is tragic.
In French with English subtitles.
