Claire's Knee
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Movie Reviews of Claire's Knee
Movie Review: Exploration of the male sexuality
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked this film after reading an article where film director Neil LaButte listed this film as one of the best films ever. For movie fans unfamilar with LaButte's work, he is a director of the film "In the Company of Men" that explores two business man taking (sexual) advantage of the vulnerable (deaf) young woman. In Eric Rohmer's movie we see middle aged diplomat on vacation in France striking a bargain with his writer (girl)friend who is observing a reaction between two young teenage girls when he tries to seduce them. Is it possible for the middle aged man, sexually more experienced and worldly to exhibit restraint in seducing two inexperienced, yet attractive young women? Is it the fact that he is engaged to be married a reason strong enough for him to keep his distance and not make any foolish choices? Can he influence these two young women into doing something foolish just to satisfy his own male ego in knowing that he was in control of the situation? I do not know but as a woman, all these guesses were pretty easy for me. Men in general can bed anything and anyone with little or no regrets. Actors in the film are mediocre. Stories are broken by days and feel somewhat fractured, there is no spontaneity to the movie. Perhaps if I were very young, I would find this film intriguing, but since that is not the case - I can give this film only three stars.Movie Review: Great film, poor DVD.
Summary: 3 Stars
Like all of the Fox/Lorber releases of Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" film series, I'd give this film 5 stars for content, especially if you enjoy writer/director Eric Rohmer's subtle, deliberatly paced, conversational style. His films crawl into your consciousness slowly and before you know it you're hooked. Unfortunatly I'd give the DVD transfer 1 star as it looks and sounds no better than Fox/Lorber's currently available VHS version and there are no extras to speak of except for incomplete director and star filmography listings. The film is not presented in its original aspect ratio and the French subtitles are burned into the print and so are not removable from the screen. Thus average rating: 3 stars. ENDMovie Review: A 5 star film; but yet another mediocre DVD from Fox Lorber.
Summary: 2 Stars
First of all, I want to stress that the low rating for this DVD does not refer to the film itself, but to the lackluster transfer by Fox Lorber. I can second the comment of the reviewer below, that the film itself deserves five stars, whereas the video and audio quality of this DVD are no better than a VHS tape (in fact, this would be very low quality for a VHS for that matter). Moreover, as with their Godard and Truffaut issues, Fox Lorber has marked only 6 chapter headings on this DVD. Now how hard is it to bookmark a chapter? Of course, I suppose that would actually require taking some interest in the film itself, and perhaps even watching it a couple of times, so as to gadge the appropriate moments to bookmark. Thus, this DVD does not even have the advantage of convenient chapter options. It is a shame that a company who owns the rights to so many great films repeatedly releases such poorly engineered DVDs. There are, of course, exceptions (more recent titles, many of the Truffaut issues, or Godard's "Vivre Sa Vie," for example). Nonetheless, I have come to expect from Fox Lorber below average video and audio quality, along with few special features, if any (even the director and actor videographies are often incomplete). Even though I own many DVDs from Fox Lorber, inspite of their mediocre quality, this is one issue that I cannot recommend. I first rented this film on DVD, but elected to purchase it on VHS, instead. This is my second favorite Rohmer film, finishing a close second after "Chloe in the Afternoon," and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the French New Wave. However, do not waste your money on this DVD.Movie Review: Chacun a son gout
Summary: 2 Stars
"To each his own."
I agree with several other reviewers who state that a person either loves Rohmer or finds him boring and pretentious. I am a big fan of French cinema but I find that I fall into the latter category. I once lived with a family in the French Alps, not far from the site of this film and I noticed that the people did not just converse---every sentence had to be some sort of pronouncement. Fortunately those folks were wise, funny and nice, not like the ones in this movie. I found the talk of the characters here not only self-important but dull and lacking any of the wit or wisdom that they seemed to believe it contained. There is a young teenager, who is supposed to be 16 but looks 12 who talks with the self-assuredness of a Sorbonne professor, but again, without the wit. Some people are charmed by this; I'm not one of them.
I found the whole action of this going-on-middle aged man getting cozy with the teenaged girls rather repulsive. He is supposed to be just the "friend" of the younger one but his actions go way beyond what is appropriate. True, this adventure is supposed to be for the sake of his novelist friend, who is stuck with the plot of her latest work, but it's still tacky. As the Amazon reviewer mentioned, the whole point of the film is to show the self-delusion of this guy. I didn't really get that when I watched it but I certainly agree that he is.
The film is visually pleasing--the mountains, the lake, the beautiful old houses, the pretty young people in their swim suits. Other than that, I don't find a lot to recommend it.
Movie Review: Avoid this DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
Great film, but terrible transfer. If you watch this film for the first time on this DVD, you will get a very bad impression of this great film. So avoid it. But anyway there is never to expect much quality from FLA.