Summary
A 35 year old diplomat, Jérôme, takes a summer holiday in the picturesque
French lakeside resort where he spent his childhood. He meets up with an old
friend, Aurora, a writer who is staying with another woman and her two teenage daughters,
Laura and Claire. Jérôme is soon to be married to the woman he has
been attached to for the last six years, and declares that he has no interest in other
women. Aurora tempts him to flirt with Laura, who appears to be attracted to him.
When Jérôme fails to succumb to Laura’s charms, he is instantly struck by
Claire, and harbours an unquenchable desire to touch her knee...
Review
The fifth of Rohmer’s six Moral Tales closely parallels the preceding tale Ma
nuit chez Maud as it portrays a man who is betrothed to one woman but is tempted by
another. In Le Genou de Claire, the central character Jérôme
regards love almost as an intellectual exercise which he reckons he has totally mastered,
much to the understandable bewilderment of his female entourage. The diplomat is
fast approaching middle-age and, presumably after several amorous disappointments, is
content to condemn himself to a passionless marriage. Although he is attracted to
the younger women he is seen flirting with in the film, he suppresses his desire through
cold reason and pompous self-righteousness. No surprise that he prefers the climate
of Sweden to that of France.
With its emphasis on intelligent dialogue and sumptuous photography, this film provided
the template for the kind of film which Rohmer would be best known for in future years.
Although most of the scenes lack the spontaneity of some of the director’s more recent
films, the quality of the script and acting makes this a compelling work. Not for
the first, or last, time, you are struck by Rohmer’s perceptiveness and ability to articulate
his ideas in such a hypnotic and eloquent manner. It is also a pleasure to see Jean-Claude
Brialy, that child of the New Wave, being given the opportunity to prove his calibre as
an actor, something which Rohmer’s New Wave contemporaries missed out on.
© James Travers 2002
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