Genou de Claire (Le)

English title: Claire’s Knee
Genre: psychological comedy
Director: Éric Rohmer
Release: 1970
Studio: Les Films du Losange
Background material on Éric Rohmer: bloomberg.net
Rating: –
MBiS score: 8.0/10


Dietrich Was Right… You Can Be Both An Intellectual And A Pervert


In the late 70s and early 80s, one of the best comedies on TV was BARNEY MILLER, which featured a squad of NYPD detectives and the cases they were assigned to solve. Though its stories almost exclusively took place in one cramped and dingy precinct office and were based on personal interaction between its regular characters, I never found it boring. Among the cops, my favourite was Arthur Dietrich, the conspicuously clever one who often got on his colleagues’ nerves. The title of this review refers to one episode in which a woman had laid indecency charges against a college professor and the prof had protested to Dietrich that he was a ‘scholar’. Dietrich’s retort, as hinted above, was less than supportive for the alleged offender.

LE GENOU DE CLAIRE is our first foray into the late Éric Rohmer’s film universe and, if you’ve heard about him, you’ll understand my reference to BARNEY MILLER. In a typical Rohmer, sets are of little importance, dialogues drive the plot much more than concrete action and story-lines feed on character psychology and personal interaction. Overall, this director kept his dramas light and his comedies refined, thus authoring films that some people will find tediously genteel but others quite wise and rewarding. Among the handful I have seen, my top choice remains MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD but the perverse LE GENOU DE CLAIRE is a fine introduction to Rohmer’s original style of moviemaking.

Generally speaking, LE GENOU DE CLAIRE goes like this. Jérôme (Jean-Claude Brialy), a French diplomat posted in Sweden, returns to his homeland to settle personal matters. In the process, he hitches up with Aurora (Aurora Cornu), a novelist and dear friend, who introduces him to Mrs. Walter (Michèle Montel) and her family. Feelings of love will soon be revealed… in addition to an ardent, unsettling attraction that should be left unexplained for now.

In this dryly funny picture, what stands out is the rapport between Aurora and Jérôme who discuss and analyze his obsession (?) as if they were psychiatrist and patient. To some, their tête-à-têtes will probably seem static and stilted but, to art film fans and francophiles in particular, they serve as a dandy illustration of that legendary Gallic sense for argumentation… and a mighty peculiar way to tickle the viewer. While you sit there, privy to all of that pensiveness, poetry and plotting, you really wonder where it will all lead you. Better yet, you’ll find yourself entangled in one of those small-scale mysteries that Rohmer relished so much and recounted on screen with intriguing and even mesmerizing results.

If you like your acting flamboyant and noisy, you will be disappointed with LE GENOU DE CLAIRE. Such a quiet film required restraint from its cast, which is exactly what it got from the trio above and also from Béatrice Romand, Gérard Falconetti, Laurence de Monaghan and Fabrice Luchini; however, since the story revolves around Jérôme, expect to see a lot of Jean-Claude Brialy who is brilliant as an earnest-looking but shifty fellow. Production values are satisfying and sober. As for Rohmer’s direction and writing, I see no reason to complain; when I think of many recent movies that have been hyped as great works but are really defective or worthless, I can only admire a creator capable of turning trivial-seeming events into appealing little stories so attuned to our human condition. Such is the miracle of cinema and I can testify to its power.

Has my review been fair enough? I do hope so and, since we’re friends, I won’t hold it against you if you choose not to see this film. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly recommend LE GENOU DE CLAIRE to anyone who loves logical comedies and polished entertainment. I’ll admit that Rohmer’s brand of filmmaking is an acquired taste but it’s a taste no one can acquire without starting somewhere. Here’s to Jean-Marie Maurice Schérer (1920-2010), a pioneer of the French ‘new wave’ and a director François Truffaut respectfully called ‘our master’.


MBiS

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