In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado, the old battle-ax Katisha has a left shoulder-blade that is a miracle of loveliness and a right elbow with a fascination few can resist. In Claire's Knee, directed by Eric Rohmer, the titular character has a right knee that becomes the object of obsession for the protagonist, Jerome, but, in contrast to Katisha, Claire also has a good many other appealing body parts. Rohmer had a penchant for populating his films with lovely young women and teenage girls in search of love.

Historical Background: Eric Rohmer's birth name was actually Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer. Born in 1920, he taught literature in a provincial high school. During the fifties, he directed some shorts but was best known as a film critic. With Godard and Rivette, he founded a short-lived magazine called La Gazette du Cinéma. In 1957, he became editor in chief of Cahiers du Cinéma, where several of the future New Wavers cut their fangs. Eric Rohmer's staunchly Catholic views set his film work apart from the others. He was less interested in politics but forever intrigued by romantic foibles and intrigues. His films typically have little plot or action, but plenty of richly nuanced conversation and game-playing. The characters in his films are mostly single young adults from the educated middle class. Dialog is the strength of a Rohmer film and viewers with little patience for talking heads may be bored to death.

Rohmer's overall body of work was structured into several series of four or six films sharing a common thematic orientation. Claire's Knee belongs to Rohmer's first such film series called “Six Moral Tales.” The last three films in this group were the ones that first brought Rohmer international recognition. My Night at Maud’s (1969) won the Prix Max Ophüls and Claire’s Knee (1970) won the Prix Louis Delluc, Prix Méliès, and the top award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Chloe in the Afternoon (1972), which completed the "Six Moral Tales" was quite successful as well. All of the films in this group use a similar tactic. Characters who possess rather involved and somewhat inflexible intellectual views find themselves challenged by new situations in which their actions belie their spoken words. His films often capture both the essence of the locales in which the film is shot and the psychological essence of the principal characters. Rohmer uses a kind of minimalism to focus attention of the inner domain. Most of his films feature attractive and intelligent but naïve young women or teenaged girls, giving the films a kind of voyeuristic or, even, lecherous quality.

The Story: Jerome Montcharvin (Jean-Claude Brialy), an attractive man of about thirty-five is engaged and soon to be married to Lucinde (whom we never meet). He is taking a month's vacation at beautiful Lake Annecy, on the border of France and Switzerland, where he had spent his summers as a child. He is there for the ostensible purpose of selling the summer home, Villa Catalpas, that he inherited, but also to rest and reflect on his impending marriage. While boating, he encounters an old friend and flame, Aurora (Aurora Cornu), who is a novelist. Aurura is staying at the summer home of Madame Walter (Michèle Montel), who has two teenaged daughters, Claire (Laurence de Monaghan), age 18, and Laura (Béatrice Romand), age 16. These girls are really half-sisters. Madame Walter divorced Claire's father and is now a widow after the death of Laura's father.

Jerome and Aurora enjoy one another's company. Their relationship entails both an element of genuine friendship and a bit of flirtatious teasing. Jerome and his fiancée have both had multiple affairs during their five-year relationship and each values his or her freedom. Aurora, however, has pretty much sworn off men, or so she says. So, instead of sex, they enjoy a kind of playful intellectual game. Aurora is always looking for fodder for developing the characters for her novels. When it becomes apparent that the rather precocious and romantic Laura has become smitten with Jerome, Aurora encourages Jerome to pursue a relationship with Laura and to keep her abreast of the details as they develop. Jerome is the kind of guy who has never had any difficulty seducing any woman whom he desires and he agrees to the adventure, relishing the idea of being interesting enough to provide the basis for a fictional character.

Jerome finds opportunities to spend some quality time with Laura. They chat at her favorite sitting place by the lake and latter go climbing about in the mountains together. They talk about love and life and hold hands a bit. Jerome advances his notions of love without exclusivity but Laura has in her mind more of the romantic ideal of an all-consuming passion. When Jerome kisses her, she allows him to do so momentarily and then pulls away, telling him to let go. Jerome inquires, "All right. We can't play anymore?" "No," she replies, "I'd like to be in love for real, with a boy who loves me and whom I love." Though only sixteen, she recognizes that for Jerome, the relationship is only a playful toying.

Jerome soon meets Laura's sister, Claire. She is a lovely blond and as sleek as a gazelle. She is even lovelier than Laura, though less overtly intelligent or full of wonder than her sister. Claire has a steady boyfriend named Gilles (Gérard Falconetti), who is bit headstrong, but handsome, sincere, and determined. Claire and Gilles often publicly display their affection for one another and Jerome finds himself turned on by Claire, though she takes no more than a polite interest in him. Jerome becomes obsessed, in particular, with Claire's right knee. He confides all of this to Aurora during their private times together. Jerome convinces himself that he might be able to seduce Aurora and that her knee is her point of sensual vulnerability. Jerome also becomes convinced that Gilles isn't good enough for Claire after the young lad gets into a tiff with the director of a nearby campground because of operating a powerboat too close to the shoreline.

In the village of Annecy, Jerome happens to spot Gilles seemingly flirting with another girl. When he later stops by the Walter's cottage, ostensibly looking for Aurora, he finds Claire all alone. She asks if he'll give her a ride into Annecy in his boat. Part way there, they get caught in a downpour and have to go ashore and seek shelter. Jerome seizes the opportunity to inform Claire of his opinion that Gilles isn't good enough for her. Then he bolsters that idea by revealing that he had seen Gilles hugging and caressing another girl. When Claire begins to cry, Jerome puts his hand on her knee, comforting her but also satisfying his own erotic impulse. Claire neither pulls away nor responds with any interest. Her thoughts are entirely absorbed with Gilles.

Jerome's vacation time is nearing its end. He brings Aurora up-to-date on his interactions with Laura and Claire, claiming that he really had felt no interest in either of them beyond what had transpired. He claims to have confirmed for himself that his fiancée is all that he requires. He also imagines that he has done Claire a service by breaking up her relationship with Gilles. Back at the Walter's place, however, in the final scene, Gilles and Claire get together and Gilles readily explains to Claire that he had spent an hour comforting one of the girls that they both know because she was upset over some calamity.

Themes: The general contours of this film's main theme are clear enough, though precisely what Rohmer has in mind is less evident. One could make a case that the ambiguity in the moral message is a strength. The thematic territory is the pros and cons of casual romantic involvements versus committed relationships. Jerome is on the cusp at this stage in his life. After living the life of a playboy bachelor, he has finally reached the stage of preparing himself to make a commitment. It's still a half-hearted commitment, in a way – an idea that he and his fiancée have pretty much stumbled upon for no better reason than that they kept running into one another and have gotten used to each other. Jerome still has his amorous urges – for Aurora, then Laura, and, finally, Claire. For likely the first time in his life, he's discovering that he can't seduce any girl or woman that catches his eye. That revelation is going to make commitment suddenly seem a whole lot more appealing to him. For their parts, Laura and Claire both seem to have more of a notion of commitment and exclusivity in mind. Aurora, like Jerome, has had her flings in the past. She boasts, at one point in the film, of having three different men in a week. Now, as she approaches middle age, she's ready to settle for just one. I don't know that Rohmer makes a very strong case, in this film, that open relationships don't work; only that they don't provide much security for that stage in life when one gets past the physical appeal of the moment.

Production Values: As in all Rohmer films, we are treated her, in Claire's Knee, to the interior world of thoughts, feelings, and desires revealed through gestures, posturings, and everyday conversation. Rohmer loves to illustrate how our actions often don't match our words and Jerome provides an excellent case in point. He's a master at rationalizing his impulses, giving high sounding motivations to what are really just base urges.

The lakeside location for this film is utterly sumptuous – the kind of scenery, in fact, that is bound to make many viewers envious. The folks in this film are leading the highlife of beautiful lakeside cottages with pristine tennis courts and magnificent vistas of the French Alps.

The performances were better in this film than in most of the other Rohmer films I've thus far seen. Rohmer turned increasingly to nonprofessional actors later in his career, but for Claire's Knee, he acquired the services of some very talented performers. Jean-Claude Brialy is one of my favorite male actors. He has the entirely enviable task, in this film, of flirting unconscionably with three lovely women or girls. He very skillfully walks the tightrope between seduction and sincerity. Brialy can also be seen in Le Beau Serge (1958), Les Cousins (1959), Paris Belongs to Us (1960), A Woman is a Woman (1960), Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), The King of Hearts (1966), The Phantom of Liberty (1974), La Nuit de Varennes (1982), and Queen Margot (1994).

Béatrice Romand was utterly delightful as the sixteen-year-old Laura. Laura describes herself, at one point, as very old for her age. Certainly, that's the case. She's a vulnerable teenager but precocious both intellectually and emotionally. Romand's portrayal of Laura makes all of that entirely believable. Romand went on to roles in such films as The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) and A Good Marriage (1982). Laurence de Monaghan only needed to look superficial and aloof, but the physical beauty of her lithe physique has perfect for the role. Aurora Cornu spiced her part with just the right amount of detached insouciance.

Bottom-Line: To enjoy a Rohmer film, you've got to have the capacity to ratchet up your level of attention and perception to the subtleties of conversation and interpersonal posturing. This particular Rohmer film has as fine a set of performances as I've seen in any of the films by this director. I'd still list Summer ("Le Rayon Vert") as my favorite Rohmer film because I found that film more thematically inspired. Nevertheless, Claire's Knee is a four-star treat that will be enjoyed by viewers who relish intelligent and witty dialog in the service of romantic pursuits. Claire's Knee is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 106 minutes.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older