Thank you 1969. Thank you for the fake moon landing, for Woodstock, for  Sesame Street, and thank you very much for My Night With Maud (and thank you BFI and Curzon cinemas for re-releasing it). This classic Eric Rohmer film is just what we need to make ourselves feel a little more intellectual than we really are in these mind-numbing times.

My Night with Maud is the kind of film I’d watch repeatedly to learn how to make a damn good film. Rohmer is one of the only directors who can make a good three minutes of the view from inside of a car compelling cinema. A typical element of his films, these physical journeys reflect the process of starting at one place and arriving at another and are something Rohmer regarded as a sincere part of life that deserved to be shown in films.

I’d also watch this repeatedly to teach myself how to make myself sound smart and discuss theology and the like. It follows Catholic Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who attempts to follow a strict moral code to help him make sense of life. After moving to a small town, he spies a beautiful blonde (Marie-Christine Barrault) at mass and is convinced she’s ‘the one’. He meets an old school friend, Vidal (Antoine Vitez) who skilfully thrusts him upon his sometimes lover the bold divorcee Maud (Françoise Fabian). Together Marxist Vidal and classy rationalist Maud open up the confusing realms of romance, sex, religion and philosophy for Jean-Louis.

These flawed characters are all cleverly made admirable but are also designed to jar with the audience. Jean-Louis’ morals he admits, are more about what he thinks he should do rather than what he actually does. There’s much rationalising, talk of lesser evils and exposed weaknesses that often make the brutally honest Maud seem like the voice of reason.

Rohmer is the master of making the internal monologue external with a sophistication Zach Braff can only dream of. He has created dialogue that flows and halts with enviable natural patterns.  It’s a feat that will rarely be recreated in this cinematic era where an actor’s greatest challenge is to seem intelligent. These 60’s French actors ooze intellect, their conversations have a seamless back and forth and their discussions of politics and the ways we live our lives are oddly believable.

As a special tribute the late Eric Rohmer, My Night With Maud plays at BFI Southbank and Curzon Soho from 23rd July with other venues still to be confirmed.