Film: Our favourite rohmer heroines

The Collector, 1966

Stuck in St Tropez, bright, languid teenager Haydee Politoff plays havoc with two sophisticated best friends in this most lackadaisical but quietly serious example of Rohmer's work. As usual with this director, what begins as a study of the capricious female turns into a damning critique of the complacent male.

My Night with Maud 1969

Francoise Fabian is divorcee Maud, the mercurial, wearily manic tease who turns Jean-Louis Trintignant's tight, Catholic world outside in. He's set his heart on demure blonde Marie-Christine Barrault but, rest assured, Rohmer avoids any trite virgin/whore dilemma. Barrault too, we discover, is a bottomless pit of faith-shaking wisdom.

Claire's Knee, 1970

You fear the worst - middle-aged writer toys with pixie Lolita (Beatrice Romand), whilst lusting after glowing goddess (Laurence de Monaghan), but all three characters grow into their skin and Claire's indifference to Jean-Claude Brialy's oppressive gawping is positively sublime.

Love in the Afternoon, 1972

Hard to understand why Zouzou didn't go on to bigger and greater things. She's perfect as Chloe, the beguiling lay-about who fixes on married man Bernard Verley as the answer to her confused prayers. She's no conventional beauty - all ramshackle hair and chunky thighs - but her presence is haunting.

Full Moon in Paris, 1984

Pascale Ogier is almost unbearable in this film - so vulnerable, pale and paper thin that Rohmer's detached amusement for once feels misplaced. However, her jittery search for a decent man - one both hunky and deep - still grips.