To continue Thursday, August 2, Delphine happens upon a group of older people, four women and a man, who are discussing the Jules Verne novel “The Green Ray.” One woman tells most of the story, saying that she is not a fan of Verne’s writing in general — another in the group expresses boredom at “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” — but the story teller notes that this novel is different for Verne, much more romantic.

The story is about a woman who hears a legend about seeing a phenomenon at sunset called the green ray. The legend goes that someone who sees the ray will gain complete understanding of their feelings and can see into the feelings of others. I have not read the Verne novel, but the conversation gives us a good sense of it, including the details that the story takes place in Scotland and the heroine never actually sees the ray, but in the course of her journey comes into touch with her own feelings and falls in love.

From there, the one man in the group feels compelled to mansplain the scientific concept … as if Rohmer felt compelled to drop a man into the story, because who would believe a woman sharing scientific knowledge? I could recall his explanation in detail, but it really comes down to how the sun creates a prism when setting over the sea, so that, for a very brief period, the green rays in the spectrum become visible.

Delphine never says a word during this discussion — she stands behind the group a few feet away where she cannot be seen. But something about the conversation clearly caught her attention.

Next, we move on to Friday, August 3. Rohmer’s camera follows a young blonde topless woman walking on the beach for an uncomfortably long time before she finally plops down on a towel next to Delphine. They begin to talk. We find out that the woman is on vacation from Sweden and will be heading next to Spain. She tells Delphine that she loves going on vacation alone, that it’s the best way to meet people.

Believe it or not, all of this takes up a good eight minutes of screen time, so even though we’re still in August 3 and not much has happened to move the plot, I’m going to have to end here. Delphine has been a spectator through most of this section … but with only a few more segments to go, she is speeding towards the transformative moment for her in the film … and presumably in her life.