Un Coeur en Hiver ( A Heart in Winter )
by Claude Sautet
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: ?lisabeth Bourgine, Andr? Dussollier, Brigitte Catillon, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle B?artDirector: Claude Sautet
Brand: Koch International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Koch Lorber Films
Movie Reviews of Un Coeur en Hiver ( A Heart in Winter )
Movie Review: A Masterpiece of Love
Summary: 5 Stars
Un Coeur en Hiver is a masterpiece in so many ways. It is a quiet film that draws you in and keeps you captivated for the full 105 minutes. At no point did I ever try to fast forward this film, including the gorgeous music sessions.
The story is love triangle between Maxime, the owner of a violin repair shop; Camille, a young and rising violinist; and Stephane, the humble artisan in the repair shop. Maxime is in love with Camille (absolutely stunning gorgeous Emmanuelle B?art). Camille begins to fall in love with stoic Stephane, while staying with Maxime. As the film progresses Camille shows more and more affection for Stephane. The twist, Stephane refuses her love. According to the DVD special feature interview with director Claude Sautet, this is Othello told from the perspective of Iago, or Stephane in this film.
The reference to Shakespeare is wonderful, and those that love literature will love this film just for the reference. However, this is a film that requires absolutely no knowledge of that play to enjoy the beauty Sautet brought the screen.
The music is absolutely stunning. Even if a person does not love classical music, the music playing moments are so perfect. Sautet uses the interludes where Camille plays the violin as rests or a changes in the story line; the timing is so exactly right. Apparently, Emmanuelle B?art spent a year taking violin lessons preparing for this part.
The film is set in Paris at a time when service and appearances matter deeply. Stephane and Camille enter a crowded restaurant for a quick break during her recording session. There are no tables, so the maitre'd shows them to the bar. They order a cheese plate and a beer. A few moments later the bar tender leans over and says a table has just opened up. The try to take the plate and glass. The bartender stops them and has a waiter come over to deliver their food to the table. A small moment, a gracious moment, the kind of thing that happened in Paris all the time. People dressed nicely, they were polite to eachother, and service was number one.
Not rated by the MPAA. Elsewhere in the world it is rated 12/13/14. There is no strong language in the subtitles. There is no nudity. There is no violence. There is one somewhat senuous scene where a nude female back is shown in bed, but nobody else is in that bed (a chaste but senuous scene because of what the imagination says happened - that's the most powerful type of this scene). The film is very far from R rated, it might be PG-13, but if the MPAA were honest, this is a PG film. In French with English subtitles that can be turned off. No English soundtrack.
The bonus features on this DVD are very interesting. Again Europeans seem to understand how to pack useful things onto DVD's. There's a couple of old news clips from French Television (TF1, when it existed). The best are the interviews with the director. He explains some interesting backdrops to this film. I found them worthwhile.
A masterpiece that doesn't require special acquired tastes to view. A person can simply start this film, sit back and be entertained. Sautet takes care of making you care about the three characters. He takes care of the beautiful music. And he makes sure you are moved by this film.
Summary of Un Coeur en Hiver ( A Heart in Winter )
Daniel Auteuil (Manon of the Spring) stars as Stephane, the curiously diffident co-owner of an exclusive violin brokerage and repair shop. A brilliant technician, Stephane can make any instrument live up to its promise, yet he himself is emotionally remote and disconnected from passionate experience. His partner, Maxime (Andr? Dussollier), lacks Stephane's gifts but is rich in personality and desire. When Maxime's new lover, a violinist named Camille (Emmanuelle B?art), is drawn to Stephane's still waters, he is briefly moved, thus destroying the fragile, symbiotic relationship between all three individuals."Two Thumbs Up!" - Siskel & Ebert
"[it] has the intensity and delicacy of a great short story." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"superb.haunting...full of unexpected beauty, richness and feeling" - Hal Hinson, Washington Post
WINNER - C?sar Award, Best Director
WINNER - C?sar Award, Best Supporting Actor
WINNER - Venice Film Festival, FIPRESCI Prize
WINNER - Venice Film Festival, Silver Lion
WINNER - London Critics Circle Film Awards, Foreign Language Film of the Year
WINNER - European Film Awards, Best Actor
WINNER - David di Donatello Award, Best Foreign Actor, Best Foreign Actress
WINNER - David di Donatello Award, Best Foreign Film
WINNER - French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, Best Film
Daniel Auteuil (Manon of the Spring) plays Stephane, the curiously diffident coowner of an exclusive violin brokerage and repair shop. A brilliant technician, Stephane can make any instrument live up to its promise, yet he is emotionally remote himself, disconnected from passionate experience. His partner, Maxime (Andr? Dussollier), lacks Stephane's gifts but is rich in personality and desire. When Maxime's new lover, a violinist named Camille (Emmanuelle B?art), is drawn to Stephane's still waters, the latter is briefly moved, thus destroying the fragile, symbiotic relationship between all three individuals. Veteran French filmmaker Claude Sautet (of the Oscar-winning C?sar et Rosalie) has made a powerful film here expressed in the smallest of gestures, just as one might tune the strings of a violin ever-so-slightly to achieve perfection. Sautet indeed employs such a sonorous motif in this story, in which violins always seem to be playing and suggesting that the principal characters look at life as they do music: something to be tinkered with and manipulated for effect. --Tom Keogh
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