Boyfriends and Girlfriends

Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second.
But then perhaps this is what lovers are.
--André Aciman

French director Éric Rohmer described Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987) as his first film intended as a "comedy."  It takes place in Cergy-Pontoise, a suburb of Paris that had been constructed immediately before the picture was filmed.  The suburb is beautiful, sleek, somewhat monumental,and ultra modern.  At the time of the filming, it was also empty and bleak.  But it forms the empty canvas on which the movie is painted.

Once more, Rohmer gives us a young, attractive woman as the central figure.  Blanche has just moved into Cergy-Pontoise, and has an excellent job with the government, in some environmental position.  She runs into another young woman, Léa, an art student near graduation, and they become fast friends.  Blanche is cute and a bit shy; Léa is more maturely beautiful and assertive.  They seem to have little in common, aside from a certain common loneliness.

Léa has had a series of boyfriends.  When Blanche meets her, she is going with Fabian.  The three get together at the community swimming pool, where they find the couple's casual friend, Alexandre, in the pool.  Alexandre is tall with chisled features, an ingratiating smile, and total self-confidence.  For Blanche, it's love at first sight.

The four become close friends, Alexandre, who moves in many social circles,  less close than the others.   Blanche confides her infatuation to Léa, who is sympathetic but who tells her that the two really don't seem meant for each other.  For that matter, as it soon becomes obvious, neither do Léa and Fabian.  Fabian is athletic, or, more accurately, outdoorsy.  Léa could hardly be less so.

One day, when Léa is out of town, Blanche and Fabian run into each other in the town square.  Fabian says that he's going windsurfing.  He asks Blanche if she'd like to join him.  After some hesitation, she agrees.  She is skilled at windsurfing, and they both have a great time  The plot thickens, or at least becomes more obvious.

Later, Léa tells Blanche that she has broken up with Fabian.  They have nothing to talk about, she complains.  She's looking around for a replacement.

After several "dates" -- merely as good friends -- windsurfing and swimming, Fabian suggests they go for a walk through the woods.  Long talks, laughter, self-revelations, lying in the grass staring at the trees blowing above them.  Fabian shyly reveals his sensitivity, his feelings for nature, his unhappiness with his relationship with Léa.  Unhappiness not because he dislikes her, but because they have so little in common, so little to talk about.  He says they have broken up by mutual agreement.

Blanche and Fabian have lots to talk about, and end up in bed back in her apartment.

Afterward, Blanche is horrified, because of her feeling that she has betrayed her friend Léa, even though  Léa had broken up with Fabian, and because she has betrayed her own hopes for a romance with Alexandre.  She tells Fabian that it had been wonderful, but never again.  She likes him very much as a friend, she explains, but that isn't love.  It's not? -- Fabian seems to wonder.  He nevertheless tries to go along with her wishes, and attempts to live as her friend.

Blanche tries shyly to get Alexandre's attention.  Alexandre confides to Léa that he has never gone after another woman. He has never had to. They all come to him, essentially drop into his lap. He tells Léa he loves her; on the other hand, he finds Blanche insipid and boring.  Blanche obviously loves Fabian, but remains obsessed with Alexandre.

Do I need to explain all the ensuing complications?  Mistakes are made, misunderstandings arise.   At one point, the dialogue among the four sounds like Shakespearean comedy.  The bottom line, like the end of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, is that all four finally surrender their preconceptions and give in to the inevitable.   Léa and Alexandre drive off happily together in search of excitement and parties.  Blanche and Fabian look deeply into each other's eyes, beneath the sheltering trees, and throw themselves into each other's arms as the credits roll.  Everyone presumably lives happily ever after.

I suppose every viewer reacts differently to the four lovers.  To me, Blanche and Fabian make a perfect couple.  Blanche is elfin and young for her age.  Fabian confesses that Léa is too young for him, but that, paradoxically, he is also too young for her.  Léa and Alexandre escape the bleakness of Cergy-Pontoise by endless partying; Blanche and Fabian escape it by exploring together the natural beauty and outdoor activities that surround the suburb.

Blanche finally learns, Rohmer seems to suggest, that "friends" and "lovers" aren't mutually exclusive categories.