Claire's Knee [DVD]

Excellent condition, no skips in playing

I had to buy this because the copy at the Sacramento Alliance Francaise went missing and we wanted to replace it. I watched it before putting it on the shelves. Like just about all of Eric Rohmer's films, I liked it, but didn't love it. He's a bit chatty for me. I enjoyed seeing a very young Fabrice Lucchini as a blond young man, the boyfriend of Claire's younger sister. I recognized his voice, not his face, when he first appeared on screen.

a little ARTSY for my TASTE ...

This DVD looks like it was made from a VHS tape. Save the money and get the VHS tape, it will look the same

People talk, talk, talk--about themselves. . .I must be missing something because i find the movie torturingly boring. It seems that nobody has anything to do other than talk about his/her feelings--e.g, declare that beautiful settings distress her. I also find bizarre that men and women who are NOT romantically involved (just friends) keep forever fondling each other like intimate lovers.

"Claire's Knee" (1971 France) is the best of Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" movies.The best part of the movie is the way it portrays rural France where prosperous Parisians keep vacation homes for holidays by a lovely lake surrounded by mountains.Probably in the south of France.Nobody knows how to have good times as well as the French, and we see great French holiday settings in this movie.The story isn't wonderful, but the trip to France viewers gets makes putting up with the story worthwhile.What is the story about?Well....One horny guy, five unavailable women..wasted in a breathtaking setting in a French mountain lake village where rich people live by the lake, dress well, and ride around in expensive motor boats.That's the truth about the movie titled Claire's Knee (1970 French Language, English Subtitles), directed by Eric Rohmer, tale #5 of his "Six Moral Tales."Damn!A neurotic time is had by all....the girls (three "older" mid-30's women , including the male star's never present fiancé, and two skinny mid-teen girls whose revealing bathing suits reveal mostly protruding bones and knobby knees) never put out, aren't available, really....the two skinny teen girls have boyfriends their own age plus a chaperon mother, one of the two "older" women at the lake village has a fiancé we see briefly, and the remaining older woman the protagonist early 30's hapless male meets at the vacation resort village is a busy and frazzled single Mom busy tending her teenager kids, working at a job, managing a house for herself, her kids, and the lady writer renter engaged to one guy, but flirting with the hapless main man.Our hero is about to enter a doubtful marriage with a doubtful and often unavailable women for doubtful reasons...his future wife is never seen...she's a career lady diplomat working in Africa, and he's had bad luck with her in the past...she's not promising and the intended marriage the hero is to start a week after he leaves the French mountain village where the movie is set also isn't promising.He meets up with four possible sex partner women in the village, and any of them could provide final good times in his bachelorhood before his awful future marriage begins, or even an alternative to it.But nothing happens, and the whole movie is about that.In the end, nobody gets laid, and nobody really enjoys the lovely setting where the show takes place....a wonderful French Alps village at the height of summer vacation season...the kind of place people dream of being part of all their lives.The movie came out in 1970 when mini-skirts and the worldwide Sexual Revolution were big and promising, and flopped not long after.This movie shows why, at least in part.What's good about Claire's Knee (1970) is the travelogue side it provides ....the scenery, the color, the lovely water and terrific small boats, the gardens and places people live in, rural France well dressed urban people occupy with style and class as they sit around outdoor tables drinking good wine and engaging in intelligent, animated, interesting conversation, the background actors not part of the story who are having a good time and being sensible, something the main characters can't be accused of doing.This movie was his advice about where the Sexual Revolution leads, titillating as its short term results sometimes may be (and were...I was there!).Good advice, often given, seldom taken, especially by the young and those in early middle age.We're too soon old, and too late smart!-------------------------Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.

Jérôme, the 35-year-old protagonist in Claire's Knee (1970) [French: Le genou de Claire], is infatuated with the nymphet Claire and has an insatiable desire to touch her young knee, but it's Laura, Claire's 15-year-old sister, who has fallen in love with Jérôme.Laura: "I think I fell a little bit in love with you."Jérôme: "... with someone my age."Laura: "Age doesn't matter to me. I've never been able to love a boy my age...You know, I may look like a little kid, but appearances can be deceiving. I'm really quite mature for my age."Thus, Jérôme must decide if he should pursue Claire, his unrequited love and knee fetish, or accept the convincing advances of Laura.Decisions. Decisions. The Allure of Nymphets

Claire's Knee is a joy to watch. Those who didn't like it really missed out on the beautiful depiction of the multiple layers of the characters complexities, particularly those of Jerome and Laura. And as such they are very believable. The dialog isn't just babble, listen more closely. You will feel like you are peeling an apple down to its core. This film is so refreshing to see. Unfortunately, most films today, even the French ones are very superficial and the dialog can at times be even crass. Claire's Knee is a film that one could even benefit from seeing twice if not three times. One learns something new every time. I wish there were more films like this!! We've turned into a society of instant gratification! Ugh, how utterly boring!

stunning

If you like Rommer it’s a must. Yet somehow I felt emptier after watching this than his other films. Many/AllOf his films have a very simple premise but conduct the show so well that the pay-off is uplifting. Clare’s knee is too simplistic.Watch My Girlfriends girlfriend a second time instead.

One of my favourite French films....a great study of innocence and adolesecence