Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
Catangro
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
gavin6942
When Nelly, a woman being just divorced, meets by chance M. Arnaud, a mature salesman just retired, begins a strange and special relationship between the two personalities.Director Claude Sautet (1924-2000) has really been a force in French cinema. Many -- most? -- of his movies are already considered classics, at least among those who appreciate foreign film. (Among the average viewer, his name probably does not mean much.) For me, though, he will always be associated with "Eyes Without a Face", even though he was the writer and not the director.In "Nelly", we get one of Sautet's last big films. Definitely not my favorite, but then again, I already mentioned that I love "Eyes", so how could this compare?
mmmopens
How many film-makers make their greatest masterpiece as their last film? Not many, but to that select list, add Claude Sautet. Nelly & M. Arnaud is exquisite.It is cinema.This is to say that, in common with most truly and unquestionably great films, it could not exist with such power in any other art. The most difficult and also the most wonderful films are the films that take place, primarily in their character's hearts. It was not important what Charles Foster Kane *did*, but what he felt. In this film too, we experience the primacy of human feelings.We do this through two luminous performances that reveal just how coarse is the acting that we habitually see in block-buster movies. One of the many deep emotions that overcame me when I first saw this film was that sheer privilege to see such acting.To see the very gradual, subtle and beautiful love that develops between the two central characters is to get a glimpse of heaven. A film, then, not of love, but the possibility of love, and a warning without didacticism that we all should grasp love if we are given the opportunity.Perhaps the greatest joy of cinema is its ability to allow us to experience rare emotion. This wonderful, wonderful film does that in an effortless way, without sentimentality, and for that we should be eternally grateful. Thank you M. Sautet, wherever you may be.
Daniel Karlsson
Emmanuelle Béart is the beauty personified and the main character in this modern French film. Wish I had still photographs of certain scenes with her in this film. Amazing eye movement by her as well as Michel Serrault, who also acts very well. Well crafted, well acted, very good ending... Not a single piece of music till close of the end; could have been more of that I think. Almost the whole movie is filmed indoors, and pretty much in the same locations, a lot of talking, ... I liked watching it, but mostly because of Béart. Otherwise it was only moderate captivating and exciting.3,5 / 5
Harry Carasso
I am a fan of Claude Sautet and I saw all his movies, except this one, which came to me with a junk of oldies brought by my new cable arrangement. That was his last one, made in 1995, and, although eight years old, the movie bears no wrinkle and seems to have been made yesterday. Alas, everything belongs to the untold (non-dit), in spite of the good script, good settings and excellent performances by Serrault and Lonsdale (I never liked Emmanuelle Beart). Having seen CHICAGO the very same day, it was interesting comparing these two movies, one very secret and the other full of noise and furor, both hiding the same emptiness. No wonder Sautet couldn't get any other commitment for the last full five years of his life. But we have so many other imperishable souvenirs from him... harry carasso
