Suzanne's Career

Suzanne's Career
File:Suzanne career 344 DVD.jpg DVD cover
Directed by	Éric Rohmer
Written by	Éric Rohmer
Produced by	Barbet Schroeder
Starring	Catherine Sée Philippe Beuzen Christian Charrière Diane Wilkinson
Cinematography	Daniel Lacambre
Edited by	Éric Rohmer
Release date	1963 (1963)
Running time	54 min
Language	French

Suzanne's Career is a 1963 film by Éric Rohmer. The French title is La carrière de Suzanne. It is the second movie in the series of the Six Moral Tales. A flirty Guillaume seduces a woman named Suzanne, which becomes problematic for his friendship with the shy Bertrand, especially when Guillaume's and Suzanne's relationship becomes strained.

Plot

This film takes place in a time of turmoil in France, due to the Cold War and the Algerian War. Two students in Paris, Bertrand, timid, young, and in pharmacy school and the brash Guillaume, who is something of a womanizer, encounter the independent and articulate Suzanne at a café. She has a full-time job and is quite independent, living alone and doing whatever she pleases. Guillaume uses his wit and charm to flirt with and seduce her. She quickly succumbs to Guillaume's coarse advances. After bedding her, he becomes bored, but continues to lead her on despite complaining about her and flirting with other women.

Bertrand believes that Suzanne must lack self-respect in order to let herself be treated so poorly, but remains silent and continues to abet Guillaume's antics. In an effort to regain Guillaume's attention, Suzanne cultivates an interest in Bertrand, spending what little money she has on him. Bertrand ends up despising her even more after he and Guillaume ruin Suzanne financially. Throughout, Bertrand has a crush on her prettier Irish friend, Sophie. After a party, Suzanne has no money to get home so Bertrand reluctantly says she can sleep in the chair in his room. He means this literally, taking the bed himself as he has an exam in the morning. The next day, he returns to his room to escort Suzanne out only to find money missing from his room. Bertrand blames Suzanne, even though both Suzanne and Guillaume had a chance to take the money, but Sophie thinks it more likely he was robbed earlier by Guillaume.

A year later, when Bertrand is swimming with Sophie, they meet Suzanne with her new fiancé, who is handsome, well-off and charming. The couple are happy together and Bertrand admits he had misjudged Suzanne and that, whether purposely or not, she won because she took away any right he had to pity her and in the end, that is the best revenge.

Cast

• Catherine Sée: Suzanne Hocquetot
• Christian Charrière: Guillaume Peuch-Drumond
• Philippe Beuzen: Bertrand, the narrator
• Diane Wilkinson: Sophie
• Jean-Claude Biette: Jean-Louis
• Patrick Bauchau: Frank
• Pierre Cottrell: the art lover/party guest
• Jean-Louis Comolli: party guest

External links

• Suzanne's Career at IMDb
• Suzanne's Career at Rotten Tomatoes
• Suzanne's Career at AllMovie
• Suzanne's Career at IMDb
• Eric Rohmer: Blueprints for a Brilliant Oeuvre an essay by Ginette Vincendeau at the Criterion Collection