''A Heart in Winter'' () is a 1992 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 ...

co-written and directed by

Claude Sautet Claude Sautet (23 February 1924 – 22 July 2000) was a French film director and screenwriter. He was a chronicler of post-war French society. He made a total of five films with his favorite actress Romy Schneider. Biography Born in Montroug ...

. It stars

Daniel Auteuil Daniel Auteuil (; born 24 January 1950) is a French actor and director who has appeared in a wide range of film genres, including period dramas, romantic comedies, and crime thrillers. In 1996 he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Fest ...

Emmanuelle Béart Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...

and

André Dussollier André Dussollier (born 17 February 1946) is a French actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the ...

. It was chosen to compete at the

49th Venice International Film Festival The 49th annual Venice International Film Festival was held on 1 to 12 September 1992. American actor and filmmaker Dennis Hopper and Czech filmmaker Jirí Menzel were the Jury Co-Presidents of the Main Competition. The Golden Lion winner was ' ...

, where it won four awards, tying for the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion (, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film in the official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The prize has been awar ...

. It was nominated for

Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Fi ...

at the 47th British Academy Film Awards. It was the second-to-last film by Sautet. He reunited with Béart on his final feature, 1995's '' Nelly and Mr. Arnaud''.

Synopsis

Highly regarded violin restorer Stéphane works and plays squash with his longtime business partner Maxime. After Maxime, who is married, begins a relationship with concert violinist Camille, Stéphane is called in to do some urgent repairs on Camille's violin. Camille begins to fall for Stéphane, and reveals the truth to Maxime. Stéphane's cool reaction causes confusion for Camille, and she lashes out at him for denying his feelings.

Cast

Emmanuelle Béart Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...

as Camille *

as Stéphane *

as Maxime *

Élizabeth Bourgine Élizabeth Clémentine Madeleine Bourgine (born 20 March 1957 in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French actress, appearing in film, television and theater. She is credited with more than 60 roles in film and television, mostly French pro ...

as Hélène *

Brigitte Catillon Brigitte Catillon (born 20 July 1951) is a French actress and screenwriter. She was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1993 for '' A Heart in Winter'' directed by Claude Sautet. She was also nominated for the Molièr ...

as Regine *

Myriam Boyer Myriam Boyer (born 23 May 1948) is a French actress. She appeared in more than eighty films and television shows since 1970. At the age of 18, she married with whom she had a son, Clovis Cornillac. From 1975 until his death in 1999 she was marr ...

as Mme. Amet *

Maurice Garrel Maurice Garrel (24 February 1923 – 4 June 2011) was a French film actor. Garrel was born in Saint-Servais, Isère. He appeared in over a hundred films and was nominated twice for a César Award for best supporting actor: in 1991 for ''La ...

as Lachaume *

Jean-Luc Bideau Jean-Luc Bideau (born 1 October 1940) is a Swiss film actor. Personal life Jean-Luc Bideau is married to Marcela Salivarova, a director of Czechoslovak origin. Together, they have two children: Nicolas, head of Presence Switzerland, and Martin ...

as Ostende

Production

Principal photography began from 21 October 1991 to 28 January 1992.

Music

The film features a number of performances of chamber music by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, played by

Jean-Jacques Kantorow Jean-Jacques Kantorow (born 3 October 1945) is a French violinist and conductor. His son is the pianist Alexandre Kantorow. Biography Kantorow was born in Cannes, France, into a family of Russian-Jewish origin. From the age of 13 he studied ...

(violin),

Howard Shelley Howard Gordon Shelley (born 9 March 1950) is a British pianist and conductor. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. He was married to fellow pianist Hilary Macnamara with whom he performed and recorded in a two-pia ...

(piano) and Keith Harvey (cello). New Zealand musician Jeffrey Grice appears in the film in the role of the pianist. The film contains only excerpts of Ravel compositions, but the soundtrack album includes them in their entirety, performed by

(violin),

Philippe Muller Philippe Muller (born 20 April 1946, in Mulhouse) is a French cellist. Biography Philippe Muller (born 20 April 1946, in Mulhouse) is a French cellist and pedagogue. His first contact with the cello was under the guidance of Dominique Prete, ...

(cello) and

Jacques Rouvier Jacques Rouvier (born 18 January 1947 in Marseille) is a French pianist. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Jean Hubeau, Vlado Perlemuter, Pierre Sancan and later on Jean Fassina. He won two Premiers Prix (first prizes): in piano performanc ...

(piano). A fourth Ravel composition not excerpted in the film, ''Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure'', is on the soundtrack album. The film helped further popularise Ravel's Piano Trio. The track listing: # Trio Pour Piano, Violon Et Violoncelle #* i. Premier Mouvement #* ii. Pantoum #* iii. Passacaille #* iv. Final # Sonata Pour Violon Et Violoncelle #* i. Allegro #* ii. Très Vif #* iii. Vif, Avec Entrain # Sonate Pour Violon Et Piano #* i. Premier Mouvement #* ii. Blues #* iii. Perpetuum Mobile # Berceuse Sur Le Nom De Gabriel Fauré

Production

Emmanuelle Béart practised violin for at least a year before the film began shooting, so that she could convincingly mime the performance sequences. Béart and Auteuil were in a relationship, and married during the making of this film. Claude Sautet based it on his memories of reading

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

's "Princess Mary".

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film 3.5 out of 4, and wrote that the film "has the intensity and delicacy of a great short story."

References

External links

* *
''A Heart in Winter''
at Philosophical Films {{DEFAULTSORT:Heart In Winter, A 1992 films 1992 romantic drama films 1990s buddy drama films 1990s French films 1990s French-language films Films about classical music and musicians Films about violins and violinists Films directed by Claude Sautet Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor César Award–winning performance Films produced by Philippe Carcassonne Films whose director won the Best Director César Award France 3 Cinéma films French buddy drama films French romantic drama films