Mr. Rohmer, the most cerebral, most morally committed of French directors, is also the one who seems most aware of the particular influences of geography and meteorology on people.

A particular bonus here is the depiction of contemporary life in a kind of sterile suburban high-rise community that's rarely seen in the French cinema but that seems very typical of recent French life.

Rohmer knows exactly what he is doing here. He has no great purpose, but an interesting small one: He wants to observe the everyday behavior of a new class of French person, the young professionals.

It's an intelligent film about shallow people, filled with the director's usual observant touches.