Claire's Knee
by Eric Rohmer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aurora Cornu, Béatrice Romand, Jean-Claude Brialy, Laurence de Monaghan, Michèle MontelDirector: Eric Rohmer
Cinematographer: Néstor Almendros
Writer: Eric Rohmer
Editor: Cécile Decugis
Producer: Barbet Schroeder
Producer: Pierre Cottrell
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-03-31
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Fox Lorber
Movie Reviews of Claire's Knee
Movie Review: Join the cast
Summary: 5 Stars
An Eric Rohmer film is not a typical film by US standards, or by European stardards either. But it's a very interesting piece of entertainment, at least very beautiful to see.
The story in Claire's Knee is very simple, but even if it was more ambitious or complicated it wouldn't be the point. And this is what people miss when they watch Rohmer's films. It's the pace, the background scenery, the natural ambience. It's an invitation to the viewer to join the cast, and feel like one more character, a very attentive and quiet character. And this is truly the magic of Rohmer's beautiful films, specially this one. Among his films, I prefer My Night At Maud's, because it's not only beautiful to the eye, but the story interests me more too.
Claire's Knee is such a delicate and precious work of art for its simplicity, and it really feels like being sucked into the scene by the characters interactions, and becoming more and more involved in the conversations. You can pick your own sides, and most of all, you can study (try to understand) the characters by staring at their faces without being impolite. And you can also just enjoy the beautiful scenery and breathe fresh air from the Alps.
So I recommend it but warn you that it should be viewed without any expectations as for plot or big excitements. Take it as an invitation to join a few friends for a few days in the French Alps during the summer. Get into the European mood and have a nice vacation.
I wish is had a better quality dvd. The other option is the Criterion edition that just came out.
Summary of Claire's Knee
Abrasive, self-deluded humor tinges the prickly exploration of sexual politics in French director Eric Rohmer's world and it often makes for less-than-comfortable viewing. Though Rohmer has made movies for several decades, his best-known films comprise a cycle loosely dubbed "The Six Moral Tales" (one short, one featurette, and four features), which also includes La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, and Chloe in the Afternoon. Rohmer's comedies are full of the disillusion and jaded settling that come with age and adulthood, and he sharply contrasts cynicism against the naiveté and easy, innocent wisdom of youth. In Claire's Knee, Jean-Claude Brialy plays a diplomat named Jerome Montcharvin, who agrees to housesit a friend's rural but lavish country estate for a month. Jerome appears contented with life as he's recently become engaged to Lucinde, a woman he's known for six years. He takes refuge in the fact that she is his opposite, and placates his doubts by reminding himself that "a woman made for me would bore me." Into this summer idyll and Jerome's predictable, ordered life come two teenage girls who threaten his faithful but passionless ardor for his fiancée. To temper his awakening libido, Jerome pretends to "experiment" with the young women's affections and, in doing so, exposes himself as a cruel, callous man who is clueless as to his true nature. Though a close woman friend cautions him that "in love, there is will," he dismisses the possibility yet in the end performs an act of "pure will" with one of the teens, the lovely Claire, and brashly hurts that which he most desires. Claire's Knee was shot by the brilliant cinematographer, the late Nestor Almendros, and the color palette in the film is a masterpiece of style and scheme. It's a Monet on celluloid, and its visual prowess, combined with the provocative, unsettling theme, earned the National Society of Film Critics' Best Film prize in 1971. (Unfortunately, the first "reel" of the DVD transfer contains several noticeable scratches and the color is also faded and purple.) --Paula NechakSimilar DVD Movies
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