''Claire's Knee'' (french: Le Genou de Claire) is a 1970 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Éric Rohmer Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World ...

. It is the fifth movie in the series of the ''

Six Moral Tales 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

''.

Plot

The story happens between 29 June and 29 July, presumably in 1970. Intertitles of the dates are displayed before the daily events are shown. While holidaying at

Lake Annecy Lake Annecy (french: Lac d'Annecy, ) is a perialpine lake in Haute-Savoie in France. It is named after the city of Annecy, which marks the start of the Thiou, Lake Annecy's outflow river.Jean-Daniel Stanley and Thomas F. Jorstad, ''Direct Sedimen ...

on the eve of his wedding, career diplomat Jérôme accidentally meets up with Aurora, an old personal friend. Through Aurora, he meets Aurora's landlady, Madame Walter, and Laura, Madame Walter's youngest teenage daughter. Observant Aurora detects Laura's crush on Jérôme, and advises Jérôme of such. After Jérôme and Laura take a hike in the mountains together, she confesses that she is "a little in love with" Jérôme. Days later (on 8 July), Laura's attractive older step-sister Claire arrives. Upon seeing Claire's knee while she is on a ladder, Jérôme finds himself longing to touch it. However, he controls his temptation. Eventually an opportunity presents itself during a boat trip on the lake when Jérôme and Claire have to seek shelter in a hut from an approaching storm. Jérôme tells Claire that he saw her boyfriend, Gilles, together with another girl, Muriel. When Claire starts to cry Jérôme consoles her by placing his hand upon Claire's knee. Jérôme later delightedly tells Aurora that it had taken him great courage to touch Claire's knee and that doing so has exorcised his desire of her from him. Gilles returns and tries to give Claire excuses as to why he was with Muriel.

Cast

Jean-Claude Brialy Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor and film director. Early life Brialy was born in Aumale (now Sour El-Ghozlane), French Algeria, where his father was stationed with the French Army. Brialy moved to mainland ...

as Jérôme Montcharvin, the diplomat * Aurora Cornu as Aurora, the novelist *

Béatrice Romand Béatrice Romand (born 1952, Birkhadem, French Algeria) is a French actress. She is best known for her work with director Éric Rohmer in such films as ''Claire's Knee'', '' Love in the Afternoon'', ''A Good Marriage'', '' Le Rayon vert'' and ''A ...

as Laura, the younger step-sister * Laurence de Monaghan as Claire, the elder step-sister * Michèle Montel as Madame Walter, the mother of Laura *

Gérard Falconetti Gérard ( French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constit ...

as Gilles *

Fabrice Luchini Fabrice Luchini (; born Robert Luchini; 1 November 1951) is a French stage and film actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Potiche'', ''The Women on the 6th Floor'', and '' In the House''. For his role in the 2015 film '' Courted'' he won th ...

as Vincent

Accolades

The film received the

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize (french: Prix Louis-Delluc ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, ...

for Best French film of the year, the 1971

Prix Méliès The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics (french: Syndicat français de la critique de cinéma et des films de télévision) has, each year since 1946, awarded a prize (":fr:Prix de la critique, Prix de la critique", English: "Critics Prize"), the P ...

and the Grand Prix at the

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in th ...

.Ruadhán Mac Cormaic (2010-01-11). "Film-maker Rohmer dies in Paris". The Irish Times. Retrieved February 22, 2015 It was named Best Film by the

National Society of Film Critics The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...

and Best Foreign Film by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

. It was a huge international success.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

called it "something close to a perfect film."John Wakeman, World Film Directors, Volume 2, 1945-1985. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1988. pp. 919-928. Cecile Mury of ''Télérama'' said "This camera outdoors gives the appearance of a small story where it goes 'nothing.' Yet these 'fragments of a love speech' make up a special study of desire, verbal pleasure, almost literary, which accompanies every inclination. A jewel."

Style

It was Rohmer's second film shot in color, with Rohmer explaining "the presence of the lake and the mountains is stronger in color than in black and white. It is a film I couldn't imagine in black and white. The color green seems to me essential in that film...This film would have no value to me in black and white."

References

External links

* * * *
''Claire’s Knee: Rohmer’s Women''
an essay by

Molly Haskell Molly Clark Haskell (born September 29, 1939)Aitken, Ian, ed. (2006)''Encyclopedia of Documentary Film, Volume 2'' New York: Routledge. p. 541. . is an American feminist film critic and author. She contributed to ''The Village Voice''—fir ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

on Claire’s Knee
by Daniel Hayes {{Authority control 1970 films 1970s teen drama films Films directed by Éric Rohmer French drama films Louis Delluc Prize winners Annecy Films produced by Barbet Schroeder Columbia Pictures films 1970 drama films National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film winners 1970s French-language films 1970s French films