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Claire's Knee Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Jerome
Aurora

Laura

Claire
Madame Walter
Director
Critic Reviews for Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire)
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (1)
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The film was rapturously received as a cinematic equivalent to Jane Austen at the time of its original release.
February 9, 2006 | Full Review… -
Claire's Knee is a movie for people who still read good novels, care about good films, and think occasionally.
October 23, 2004 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review… -
Comes very close to being a perfect movie of its kind.
May 20, 2003 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review… -
Perhaps the director's best-known and best-liked film.
March 10, 2003 | Full Review… -
The penultimate entry in Eric Rohmer's series of Six Moral Tales, and the loveliest, most crystalline of the lot.
January 1, 2000 | Full Review… -
Love, sex, fetishism, and objectification all receive verbal workouts in this witty and wise enterprise.
May 23, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire)
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Mar 28, 2013<b>Eric Rohmer's 5th Moral Tale</b> --><i>Possible moral topic(s) treated:</i> Emotional manipulation for the fulfillment of perverted fantasies. BAM!! Rohmer accomplishes the ridiculously difficult task of putting into coherent (sometimes sophisticated, but never sophistic) words the complex mentality that drives men's impulses into scandalously immoral actions. Maybe our fathers saw scandal in the age difference issue; today, it doesn't bother us that much anymore because society is, in some respects, more degraded than before. Hence, <i>Le Genou de Claire</i> arises new questionings today. I use the word "scandalous" because Jerome's ambitions are truly perverted. The direction is impeccable and accurate because only all of us men are capable of understanding the powerlessness caused by a gorgeous female figure in an instant, no emotional attachments involved. In that way, everything suddenly becomes elements that conspire against you: the landscape in which you are in, the climate, the people around you when all you want is to find the golden opportunity of being alone with the source of your obsession, the lovers like if they were your personal competitors... everything becomes a conspiracy against you. A vacation can turn into a nightmare, but us men can find the fun in such disturbing experience. A substantial amount of scenes in <i>Le Genou de Claire</i> <b>needed</b> to resemble an "interview style", so that both genders have the opportunity to make efforts to express the reasons behind their actions. Truth is, we do not know the reasons behind our actions. Jerome's marriage does not matter at the end of the day. What should really capture the audience is how, while trying to explain our actions, we build complex sentences as coherent as possible to justify what we do while pretending to know that we understand the complex psychological processes involved, and that is what Jerome stands for as a character. That is why Laura's presence occupies the first half of the film and her participation in it turns out to be funny and ironic, but paradoxical: she understands better why she does what she does (the "lack of parental figure" observation was spot-on) than Jerome, even better than Aurora, whose experimental reasons remain unexplained and that makes it all the more mysterious... just like human nature is. Watching this film is like watching a mirror for men. The situation, even though improbable, is very realistic towards our unfortunately primitive male nature, and most of us have been in that situation with a close relative. Age does not matter, I reiterate. But it is ashaming to accept that our so-called "freedom" (in the context of "I am a free man/woman", like stated in the film) does not represent more than slavery to our passions. Damn it, I've been there, it is extremely difficult to handle, but why is it that we want to be the #1 guy in the lives of every single woman we meet? Rohmer, audaciously, circles around this particular question with challenging delicacy and, let's say, "diplomacy", making you realize that moral is relative, and the roots of your decisions and impulses are much more disturbing than what you realize. 99/100Edgar C Super Reviewer
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Feb 16, 2011Eric Rohmer. I get it, I like his sensibilities, and I think he is an important filmmaker. But "Claire's Knee" is just grueling for me. I found nothing to latch onto. I though the way the characters spoke was the farthest thing from reality. I also don't mind slow films, but this was slow for almost no reason. I know people will jump to disagree with me, but the story, while simple, could have used just a tad bit of flare- at least from the actors. I don't know, nothing about the film struck me as engaging or emotional. I understood the message perfectly fine, but to make it meaningful I needed a touchstone of some sort and it was sorely missing.Steven C Super Reviewer
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Aug 16, 2008Extremely poetic,disturbing to the sense of tripping controversies,aye,we do realize censorship committees the judgmental issue of age difference and there is passion between....almost all in this film.It remains a gem of spiritual liberty though and you better get some immorality lesson.Dimitris S Super Reviewer
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Feb 09, 2007It was okay. I fell asleep watching it once and had to finish it a different day. It was sorta like a French "Lolita" without the sex, and much less interesting.Megan S Super Reviewer
Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire) Quotes
Jerome: | I thought to myself that every woman has her most vulnerable point. For some, it's the nape of the neck, the waist, the hands. For Claire, in that position, in that light, it was her knee. It was the magnetic pole of my desire, the precise point where, if I could pursue this desire, I'd have placed my hand. And right there is where her boyfriend had his hand. In all his innocence and insipidness. That hand was above all insipid, and that shocked me. |
Aurora: | It's very simple. Place your hand on her knee. That will exorcise the desire. |
Jerome: | It's not simple at all. That's the hardest thing to do. A caress has to be accepted. It would be easier to seduce her. |
Aurora: | I find all men attractive. That's why I can't pick one. Why one and not another? I need a reason to choose one specific man. Since I can't have them all, I prefer to do without any. |
Jerome: | That's quite unnatural, and quite immoral. |
Aurora: | Hardly immoral, since it keeps me chaste. |
Jerome: | The heroes of a story are always blindfolded. Otherwise they'd attempt nothing. The plot would stall. |
Aurora: | Actually, everyone wears a blindfold.Or at least blinders. |
Jerome: | Except you, since you write. |
Aurora: | Yes, writing forces me to keep my eyes open. |
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