Claire's Knee
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Movie Reviews of Claire's Knee
Movie Review: L'ete
Summary: 4 Stars
Eric Rohmer explores his favorite two subjects again, i.e human compulsions and ethics. This time his film's backdrop are those lazy hazy days of summer vacation for the upper middle class in the mountains of France.
Several families with chateaus on a lake front visit back and forth during those sun dappled days. Among our group are several teen age daughters and their boyfriends, a few mothers/authors, and a thirty something single guy friend about to finally resign himself to marriage. Beneath the pleasantries exchanged over lunches on the lawn under shade trees, there bubbles vague yearnings and misplaced affections, primarily in the mind of the man. The mother seems almost bemused by his confessions to her.
Rohmer seems to be poking around the idea of how far one can carry his fantasies without crossing over any lines. However he leaves the viewer with an over-all feeling of how fleeting and essentially innocent this all is. Beneath the surface there is really nothing. No shadows emerge. In the end we are left with a simple portrait of a slice of life, as whispy as a summer cloud scudding over a lake's surface.
Movie Review: Just like life....
Summary: 4 Stars
I think the French cinema is my favourite. There is a
subtlety mixed with a maturity mixed with a simplicity
which you rarely get in any other counties' cinema.
It can be a bit chocolate-boxey at times in its
middle-class comfortableness, but that's the only
down-side.
This film is ravishing on the eye, full of sunshine
& sophisticated conversation. Wonderful
naturalistic actors, you'll fall in love with them.
The only thing that niggles is the passive un-requitedness
of it. But then that's often like life. I raved about it
when it first came out and it's a film that has stayed with
me over the years. I won't tell you what it's about
- other than to say if you like male/female relationships - see it!
Movie Review: A poor transfer of a delightful film
Summary: 4 Stars
As a film, "Claire's Knee" retains its charm and is a pleasure to see every couple of years. I had bought the DVD assuming the image and sound would be superior to the VHS version but was disappointed by the poor quality of the transfer. The image is not sharp and the color, which should be vibrant, is washed out and poorly balanced. Moreover, I was anticipating the film would be presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, but it is full-frame instead. The image looks so flat and lacking in resolution that one could almost suspect that the DVD had been made from a VHS copy. Whatever the source for the transfer was, it's truly a pity Fox Lorber should be satisfied to sell such a mediocre product.Movie Review: Love the film, DVD is a bare bones release
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoy the bemused exchanges of the adults trying to make sense out of (and foolishly participate in) the world of youthful love. So much sublety is there even in the subtitles. I wish I knew French.The only advantage of the DVD over a VHS release is that you have the DVD direct access functions, chapter selection, and such. There's no control over subtitles, no optional dubbing, no commentary to speak of. No trailers for the movie itself or any others.
Movie Review: An interesting Rohmer, but nowhere near his best.
Summary: 3 Stars
Typical Rohmer character study of an engaged man reassuring himself that while he is at the moment "still free", he is not in the least bit interested in any other women. During a vacation, a friend introduces him to a woman with 2 teenage daughters (17-19 years-old). Our main character spends the first half of the film convincing himself and others that he is quite comfortable with his fiancee and needs no one else, however finds himself drawn to the younger daughter. The 2nd half of the film finds him suddenly attracted to the other daughter, and developing an obsession with touching her knee, which he sees her boyfriend doing. By the end of the film, he achieves this goal and that's it, our little Rohmer moral tale is over.
Not very unlike his other films, however the characters and dialogue were not as interesting and compelling to watch as those in films such as My Night at Maud's, A Tale of Springtime, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, Chloe in the Afternoon, and Summer. All of these films I noted, I wouldn't mind repeated viewings, however once was enough with Claire's Knee. I feel this is one of his films that does not stand the test of time too well, as much as the others do. The morals in his other films were more intense and attention grabbing, but this one borders on almost not caring about this guy's situation at all.
As for the DVD quality, yes, we know what to expect from Fox/Lorber, however it is not as bad as other reviewers state. The opening scenes start out with tons of artifacting, but that quickly gets better moments into the film. The audio is clear and I found the picture was sharper than Chloe in the Afternoon. This is still slightly above VHS quality, where Chloe was really not.