The Green Ray

The Green Ray (Le Rayon vert, 1986) is an Éric Rohmer drama you can watch online on iFILM. When a friend backs out of their holiday at the last minute, Parisian Delphine is left with an empty August and no idea how to fill it.

So she drifts. Off to one set of friends, then another, to the sea at Cherbourg, to the mountains, on to Biarritz — never quite landing anywhere. Marie Rivière plays her as if no camera were present: the dialogue grew out of improvisation, so the awkward silences, the sudden tears and the half-conversations with strangers feel overheard rather than performed. Delphine is waiting for a sign. She couldn't tell you which one.

Part of Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" cycle, the film took the Golden Lion at Venice in 1986. Its title nods to Jules Verne: the green ray is a rare flash at sunset, said to reveal your own heart to whoever catches it. A quiet, near-plotless study of how hard it is to be alone — for viewers willing to settle into Rohmer's wavelength. Stream The Green Ray (1986) online on iFILM.