The late Eric Rohmer had a knack for investing soap-opera configurations—love triangles, extramarital affairs—with complexity and surprise. In its outlines, A Tale of Winter, part of his Tales of the Four Seasons tetralogy, is the soapiest of all (it falls between 1990’s A Tale of Springtime and 1996’s A Summer’s Tale).
He starts by introducing Charles (Frédéric van den Driessche) and Félicie (Charlotte Véry, who recalls a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton) while they are enjoying a summer idyll, but it’s a bit of a fake-out. When fall arrives, they return to their lives, but due to a mix-up, they lose touch.
Five years later, Félicie, a creature of instinct, is a single mother…