''Claire's Knee'' () is a 1970 French

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

written and 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-war, p ...

. It follows a soon-to-be-married man and his conflicted relationship with two teenage girls. The film stars

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 ...

Aurora Cornu Aurora Cornu (6 December 1931 – 14 March 2021) was a Romanian-born French writer, actress, film director, and translator. Her best known role is that of Aurora in Éric Rohmer's ''Claire's Knee''. Biography She was born in Provița de Jos, Prah ...

, Béatrice Romand and Laurence de Monaghan. It is the fifth film in the series of the ''

Six Moral Tales 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

'' (1963–1972). ''Claire's Knee'' was released in France on 11 December 1970 to critical acclaim. It received the

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize ( ) 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, consisting of a group ...

for Best French Film of the year. Abroad, 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 2024, ...

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 the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

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 (, ) 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 Sediment Dispersal from Moun ...

on the eve of his wedding, career diplomat Jérôme accidentally meets up with Aurora, an old 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 tells him. 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, but 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

as Jérôme Montcharvin, the diplomat *

as Aurora, the novelist * Béatrice Romand 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 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''. Life and career Fabrice Luchini was born in Paris, ...

as Vincent

Reception

''Claire's Knee'' received the

for Best French film of the year, the 1971

Prix Méliès The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics () has, each year since 1946, awarded a prize ("Prix de la critique", English: "Critics Prize"), the Prix Méliès, to the best French film of the preceding year. More awards have been added over time: the P ...

and the Grand Prix at the

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...

.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

and Best Foreign Film by the

. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

. The film was a huge critical success. On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Claire's Knee'' hold an approval rating of 96%, based on 23 critic reviews with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Told through precise body language and sunny wit, ''Claire's Knee'' makes an unusual love story feel universal".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was 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 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 ''Télérama'' is a weekly French language, French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic ...

'' 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, as he explained: "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". The film's visual aesthetics and narrative style has been noted for inspiring

Luca Guadagnino Luca Guadagnino (; born 10 August 1971) is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alon ...

's '' Call Me by Your Name'' (2017).

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 film critic and author. She contributed to '' The Village Voice''—first as a ...

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". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

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 Films shot in 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 Les Films du Losange films