Claire’s Knee,
the penultimate film in Eric Rohmer’s legendary ‘Six Moral Tales’ series, ranks as one of his most renowned works. Though
it comprises of a deceptively simple plot, the themes of sexual politics,
morality and one-upmanship make for a gleefully delectable watch, and manages
to appeal as much to the senses as to one’s intellect. Jerome (Jean-Claude
Brialy), an upwardly mobile and well-read diplomat, is on vacation at his
picturesque summer retreat in the French countryside. He gives far higher
priority to his brain as opposed to his heart, and this trait has made him
decide to get engaged to a lady he likes spending time with despite not really
being in love with her. During the vacation he reconnects with an old friend
Aurora (Aurora Cornu), who is an author, and meets Laura (Beatrice Romand), a capricious
teenaged girl who develops a crush on him. He whiles his time by engaging in
long intellectual conversations with Aurora and at times casually flirting with
Laura. However, these all come to a halt upon the arrival of Claire (Laurence
de Monaghan), the ravishing half-sister of Laura. He immediately gets attracted
to her, and develops a strange fetish – that of caressing her knees; the fact
that unlike most women she doesn’t think much about him and is rather engrossed
with her brash boyfriend, takes his intense longing to the level of obsession,
even though he carefully cloaks that in front of Aurora as well as to his own
sense of morality by resorting to pseudo-intellectual banter. Nicely enacted,
wonderfully paced, and comprising of deft observations, humour and irony, this ranks
as one of the most assured, perceptive and captivating films in Rohmer’s
oeuvre.
Director: Eric Rohmer
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Language: French
Country: France
2 comments:
It may be Rohmer's greatest masterpiece, but it is at least among his very best films much for the reasons you broach in this exceptional short essay. You've done some real great work on Rohmer on these pages!
Thanks a lot Sam for the appreciation. Yes, this would make for a strong claim if one were to make a list of Rohmer's greatest masterpiece.
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