Claire's Knee
- Jean -Claude Brialy Jérôme
- Aurora Cornu: Aurora
- Béatrice Romand: Laura
- Laurence de Monaghan: Claire
- Michèle Montel: Madame Walter
- Gérard Falconetti: Gilles
- Fabrice Luchini: Vincent
Claire's Knee is the fifth film in 1970 resulting from the cycle of Six Moral Tales by Eric Rohmer, who by the baker of Monceau (1962 ) The career of Suzanne (1963 ), The Collector (1967 ), My Night at Maud (1969) and love is completed in the afternoon ( 1972).
Action
The diplomat Jérôme spending her summer vacation before his wedding on Lake Annecy. About an old friend, the writer Aurora, he learns Madame Walter and their daughter Laura know. Jerome makes a mountain hike with Laura and she falls in love a little with him.
A few days later arrives Laura's stepsister Claire. Jerome is interested in the attractive girls and developed a compulsive desire to touch her knee.
The opportunity arises when Claire and Jerome have to look in a cabin during a boat trip shelter because a storm is coming. Jerome tells Claire that he had seen her boyfriend Gilles with another girl. She starts to cry and lets him have his way when he puts his hand on her knee.
Background
Jean -Claude Brialy reported in his autobiography of the shooting at the Lac d' Annecy. Rohmer had the entire film crew housed in an old house where there was only one common bathroom, and lodged itself in a shed. Particularly difficult to work with Béatrice Romand was that constantly interfered in the shooting and have even bitten him in a scene.
Criticism
The filmdienst praised Rohmer analysis of feelings and behaviors of different generations in its contemporary film criticism as psychologically extremely " subtle and discreet ." The film was a " case study of narcissistic self-love ."
" Jérôme has no intention to deceive, or Laura Claire. He is not one of those men who are on the hunt, at least not on the hunt for female trophies. He is a narcissist, someone who thinks he is irresistible and it is only important above all to prove to himself that he could, if he wished that he could bind any woman to himself if he wanted. Jerome is in love with himself - and exclusively ".
Awards
The film won in 1970 the prestigious Prix Louis- Delluc, a year later the main prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. 1972 Claire's knee with the Prix Méliès the Association Française de la Critique de Cinéma was voted as the best French film production, while also found in the USA Rohmer's directorial work resonated with the critics and the prices of the National Board of Review for Best Foreign Language Film and the National Society of Film Critics awarded Best Film of the year.