French director Eric Rohmer dies

Eric Rohmer, the French filmmaker internationally known for movies tracing the intricacies of romantic relationships, has died. He was 89 years old.

Les Films du Losange, a company that produced his movies, says Rohmer died in Paris today. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Rohmer's best-known films included "My Night at Maud's" and "Claire's Knee."

He had worked until recently, with his latest film, "Les amours d'Astree et de Celadon," ("Romance of Astree and Celadon"), appearing in 2007.

In 2001, he was awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his body of work.

We will have a more complete obituary later today at latimes.com/news/obituaries.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Director Eric Rohmer holds the Golden Lion career achievement award he received in 2001.
Credit: Claudio Honorati / Associated Press

Comments

[verbwank]

Absolutely the most unique film maker-the only one who actually got suspense from the smallest, most detailed observations of seduction and unveiling the genuinely surprising and complex motives behind it. It's all inside of men's and women's heads and it's a landscape as unexpected as a detectve story - in fact,Rohmer's films really are detective stories without villains.

[leonard waks]

Eric Rohmer was among the most important directors of the twentieth century. And his films were the most important to me. Clair's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoons were the deepest explorations of the contemporary male psyche. No one else's came close.