An Assayas Retrospective.

Having survived the dreadful, gaping hole that was summer movies 2003, parched moviegoers can refresh themselves in the cool breeze of this display of all nine of Olivier Assayas' films. Running in anticipation of the long-awaited theatrical release of the French director's latest, demonlover, it is a rejuvenating reminder that moviegoers need not sink into a morass of puerile, lowest-common-denominator crap.

A unifying element of Assayas' films is an abiding fascination, common to French films, with the working world. Many of the top-echelon French films of the last 10 years, from Erick Zonca's The Dreamlife of Angels to Benoit Jacquot's A Single Girl, have revolved around the workplace. Assayas' films explore work in an offhand manner, glimpsing it out of the corner of its eye while simultaneously delving into the emotional, sexual and social lives of their characters. From Irma Vep's film crew to the porcelain factory in Les Destinees, Assayas never strays far from the specifics of the workplace. The depiction of the out-of-control attempted remake of Feuillade's Les Vampires in Irma Vep makes for one of the funniest and most genuine movies about moviemaking in recent memory.

The MoMA series also includes Assayas' highly acclaimed L'eau Froide from 1994, a sensitive coming-of-age film starring a young Virginie Ledoyen, and the fascinating 1997 mash-note-cum-documentary, HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Like Assayas' first three films, it's difficult to track down; unlike his staid early efforts, it's worth the effort. HHH follows the acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker through the old haunts of his Taipei childhood, simultaneously guiding viewers through the cinematic worlds of Hou's creation. For those unfamiliar with Hou's work, the film is an evocation, with a critic's eye and a fan's heart, of the unique transcendence of the Taiwanese master's work.

Assayas began his career as a critic, and later editor, for the ultra-influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinema. The critical streak has never fully departed from his films, which often riff off his favorite filmmakers. In particular, the best of Assayas' work functions as a modernist update of Jean Renoir's ample humanism. Renoir's generosity is in clear sight in the superb, underrated Late August, Early September from 1998, perhaps the best of Assayas' films to date. Late August details the professional and romantic travails of a group of Parisian thirtysomethings, absorbing their casual cruelties and emotional blind spots while also serving as a careful study of Gabriel (Mathieu Amalric), a failed artist struggling to find his calling. Exceptional performances abound, but Virginie Ledoyen's portrayal of the heartbreakingly beautiful ball of fire Anne particularly stands out. Max Ophuls' La Ronde is another clear historical marker for this wonderfully moving roundelay of love and loss.