Claire's Knee
1971 ‘Le Genou de Claire’ Directed by Eric Rohmer
Synopsis
On the eve of his wedding, on holiday on the Lake Annecy shore, a career diplomat visits an old acquaintance, perhaps a former girlfriend. Through her he meets an intense teenager, Laura, and then lusts after her sister, Claire. Whilst Laura attempts to flirt with him, his fantasy becomes focused on wanting to caress Claire's knee.
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This is the fifth film in Rohmer’s so-called “Six Moral Tales”, which means that I only have one left to finish! For those who don’t know, the “Six Moral Tales” is a cycle of six films (two shorts: The Bakery Girl of Monceau, Suzanne's Career, and four feature films: La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon) that Eric Rohmer (who was an editor of Cachiers du Cinéma in the late 50’s) started directing in 1963 and finished in 1972. What do these six films have in common? That all of them follow the same story (“A man, married or otherwise committed to a woman, is tempted by a second woman but eventually returns to…
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Le genou de Claire
"I'm completely perplexed by 'Le genou de Claire', I know that more then one friend likes it a lot, but I could only see a superficial creepiness and play on words and intentions. I need to watch more of Rohmer's films and then revisit this one!" -
I've had a soft spot for Eric Rohmer ever since I watched Le rayon vert as my first from him. I guess he's the kind of filmmaker you either worship or find dull as hell, as his distinct style have been easily seen throughout the handful of other Rohmer's I've seen since. I had not seen any of his Six Moral Tales before, despite the status they hold in his filmography.
Claire's Knee is the fifth of his Six Moral Tales, and along with My Night at Maud's the most praised. I have no problem understanding why. It's simply a masterpiece.
Rohmer's keen eye for human interactions and his complete understanding of human nature is essential to this movie. And…
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Landscapes, glances, bodies. Love, or lust, portrayed through a dare.
On a side note: very thankful Rohmer and Almendros decided to work together. Their collaborations are gorgeous.
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This is the fifth film in Rohmer’s so-called “Six Moral Tales”, which means that I only have one left to finish! For those who don’t know, the “Six Moral Tales” is a cycle of six films (two shorts: The Bakery Girl of Monceau, Suzanne's Career, and four feature films: La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon) that Eric Rohmer (who was an editor of Cachiers du Cinéma in the late 50’s) started directing in 1963 and finished in 1972. What do these six films have in common? That all of them follow the same story (“A man, married or otherwise committed to a woman, is tempted by a second woman but eventually returns to…
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Every once in a while I have to sit down with an Eric Rohmer movie to watch beautiful French people talk about sex. They don't do it. Just talk about it. It's beautiful though.
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Devastating and beautiful movie. Explores love from so many different angles and points of perspective. Even I was feeling a longing for youthful romance by the end, which, believe you me, never happens. I must admit this is the only Rohmer film I've seen, but I'm going to be fixing that quickly.
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as acerbic as anything godard did
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Landscapes, glances, bodies. Love, or lust, portrayed through a dare.
On a side note: very thankful Rohmer and Almendros decided to work together. Their collaborations are gorgeous.
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I've had a soft spot for Eric Rohmer ever since I watched Le rayon vert as my first from him. I guess he's the kind of filmmaker you either worship or find dull as hell, as his distinct style have been easily seen throughout the handful of other Rohmer's I've seen since. I had not seen any of his Six Moral Tales before, despite the status they hold in his filmography.
Claire's Knee is the fifth of his Six Moral Tales, and along with My Night at Maud's the most praised. I have no problem understanding why. It's simply a masterpiece.
Rohmer's keen eye for human interactions and his complete understanding of human nature is essential to this movie. And…
-
Perhaps *too* complete a film essay, Claire's Knee has the deceptively simple profundity present in all of Rohmer's films, yet remains utterly tedious. Impressive array of viewpoints on display (within themes such love, sex, relationships and fidelity).we jealous American bastards!)
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I thought watching all of these in order I would get a better grasp of the character of the morality expressed, and in sequence they do have a rather impressive ambiguity to them. I hope they don't all amount to flimsy rationalizations for being sexually timid—"Catholicism" in Maud, the impending, somewhat confused marriage for this fellow, etc—but the situations Rohmer sets up are predicated rather often on a weakness for extremely athletic jeunes filles in bikinis. (Understandable, but is it given too much as a weakness? The moderately sadistic lady-writer is, with Maud, a more compelling character than any of the male figures, which, considering the women's opacity, may be a poor reflection on the protagonists, who always seem to…
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Desire, perhaps misplaced, takes many forms and renders even those convinced of their control and superiority powerless under Rohmer's direction. A series of vignettes depicts a man's flirtations growing out of his control in one beautiful summer.