Claire's Knee (1970) Le genou de Claire (original title)

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writer:

Eric Rohmer

Release Date:

21 February 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Jérôme, a 35-year-old diplomat, is struck by teenage girl Claire and harbours an unquenchable desire to touch her knee ...

Plot Keywords:

Knee | Half Sister | Lake | Older Man Younger Woman Relationship | Mini Skirt

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 7 wins

Cast

Jean-Claude Brialy	...	Jerome
Aurora Cornu	...	Aurora, the novelist
Béatrice Romand	...	Laura
Laurence de Monaghan	...	Claire
Michèle Montel	...	Madame Walter
Gérard Falconetti	...	Gilles
Fabrice Luchini	...	Vincent
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sandra Franchina

Directed by
Eric Rohmer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Eric Rohmer

Produced by
Pierre Cottrell	....	producer
Barbet Schroeder	....	producer

Cinematography by
Néstor Almendros

Film Editing by
Cécile Decugis

Production Management
Alfred de Graff	....	production supervisor

Sound Department
Michel Laurent	....	sound assistant
Jean-Pierre Ruh	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean-Claude Gasché	....	electrician
Bernard Prim	....	still photographer
Jean-Claude Rivière	....	assistant camera
Philippe Rousselot	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Martine Kalfon	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Louis Balthazard	....	machinist
Michel Fleury	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Les Films du Losange

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Media Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS) (Through the Cinematheque Collection for Heron Communications)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Guerilla Films (UK)
• Rosebud (Greece) (tehatrical re-release)
• Skouras Films Classics (Greece) (theatrical re-release)

Also Known As:

"Le genou de Claire" - France (original title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:S | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:Btl | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Lac d'Annecy, Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France

Company:

Les Films du Losange

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Near the end of the movie, Jerôme and Claire Annecy are going by boat to Annecy but have to seek refuge under a shelter because of a storm. During their conversation, the irregular flow of the watering device used to create the big rain can be clearly heard.

Quotes:

Jerome:Every woman has her most vulnerable point. For some, it's the nape of the neck, the waist, the hands. For Claire, in that position, in that light, it was her knee.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Son of Gascogne (1995)

Warm, sensual and beautifully presented

The title of this charming film by Eric Rohmer is perhaps too provocative. It really gives the wrong impression, yet Claire's knee is exactly the central point of the film, although in a way that will surprise you.

This is the story about a thirty-something year old diplomat, Jerome Montcharvin, who encounters two pretty girls, sixteen and eighteen years old, while on vacation at Lake Annecy in France (near Lake Geneva, Switzerland) a month before his wedding and finds that they affect him more strongly than he might have expected. It is especially Claire who brings out a side of his personality that is seldom exposed, much to the merry interest of his friend, Aurora, a writer, who has guided his interest in the girls, ostensibly as material for a story she is writing. Claire's Knee, it need be said immediately has not so much to do with the pretty girl's knee as it has to do with the protagonist's self-perception.

Jean-Claude Brialy, who plays Jerome Montcharvin, brings a veracious mix of smug confidence and little guy vulnerability to the part spiked with a clear case of self-delusion that illuminates his character very well. And the girls are indeed very pretty, with Laura, played with coquettish innocence by Béatrice Romand, also being clever and slyly sophisticated, vulnerable and honest. In contrast Claire, played by Laurence de Monaghan, whose fawn-like beauty is perfect for the part, seems superficial and ordinary and a bit distant. I found myself more attracted to Aurora, played with a gentle and understated irony by Aurora Cornu. She provides the objectifying point of view for us to realize that while Jerome imagines he is a man in touch with his feelings and has an objective understanding of himself, he is really a man who fools himself about his motivation, a man who can be ugly when frustrated, as he is by Claire's lack of interest in him.

The dialogue, written by director Eric Rohmer, which some have found excessive is anything but. It is instead clever and witty and at times profound as Rohmer relentlessly explores the nature of love, sex, sensuality and self-delusion. The cinematography of the lake and the French alps in the summer time is luscious, and the privileged, softly indulgent life style of the characters living around the lake provoked a twinge of jealousy in my soul. This is a beautiful film, worldly wise, warm, sensual and subtle as a dinner by candlelight.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)