Before My Night at Maud’s became the routine representative of Rohmer’s work at Arts & Faith, The Green Ray had its moments of being favored. The story of a young woman being disenchanted with the way society treats singles might, perhaps, speak more pointedly to a young adult audience. The reference to the supernatural qualities of the titular ray also adds an element of at least potential transcendence that is sometimes lacking in Rohmer’s later work. Here there may also be a predecessor to works like Linklater’s Before Sunset trilogy. Young adults, stifled by modern doubts and existential questions have not yet given into postmodern hedonism, absurdity, or despair. They sense, as we do, that there must be something more than what they have inherited yet they are increasingly at a loss about how to access it or even find it. — Kenneth R. Morefield (2023)
Arts & Faith Lists:
2006 Top 100 — #85
2010 Top 100 — #41