Journal d'un scélérat

Journal d'un scélérat is an elusive early work by Éric Rohmer, shot on 16mm in 1950 and now considered lost. There are no widely available prints, and contemporary records offer almost nothing beyond the title and a brief catalog listing. Because no reliable synopsis, cast list, or screening reports survive, the film resists a concrete description; all we can say for certain is that it existed as a small gauge piece from Rohmer's formative years. That lack of material has turned the title into a curiosity, inviting speculation from scholars and fans while keeping any plot details firmly out of reach.

Directed by Éric Rohmer in 1950, the film was made on 16mm, a common choice for shorts and noncommercial experiments then. Production notes are scarce, and there’s no documented wide release, which helps explain why no prints have been preserved in public archives.

No major awards or festival honors are recorded for Journal d'un scélérat. Given its limited circulation and lost status, it didn’t enter the awards circuit, and there are no verified nominations tied to the title in major film prize records.

Its main cultural footprint comes from being a "lost" Rohmer, a title that keeps turning up in retrospectives and bibliographies about the director. Cinephiles and historians mention it when tracing Rohmer’s early activity, and its absence has become part of the conversation about film preservation and the gaps in postwar French cinema archives.

Because no viewable version exists, critical reception is essentially absent and themes are a matter of informed guesswork. Observers tend to point to Rohmer’s later interests in moral situations, conversational drama, and observational pacing as possible hints, but there’s no way to confirm if those elements appear here. The film remains a blank page in Rohmer’s output, valued more for what its absence suggests than for any documented content.