César et Rosalie
1972 Comedy / Drama / Romance   

 

Review
With its memorable dream-like photography and impassioned acting performances, César et Rosalie – quite possibly Claude Sautet’s best film – is a haunting evocation of the pain and faltering uncertainty of love.   The story of an irreconciable love triangle is told with a conflicting combination of poetry and realism, sometimes comic, sometimes dark and menacing.  Beneath this turbulence of troubled emotions and alternating mood swings (reminiscent of Truffaut’s Jules et Jim), a tale of great humanity and sensibility is revealed, culminating in a sublimely beautiful final sequence.

The combination of Sautet’s masterful direction and faultless performances from his lead actors (Yves Montand, Romy Schneider and Sami Frey) makes this a compelling, highly seductive drama.  The film exposes so much raw emotion, sometimes directly with bursts of shocking violence, but more often with the greatest subtlety.  The relationship between the three main characters is traced with unceasing tenderness and believability, someting which lends the film its drive, humanity and intense poignancy.

Actor-singer Yves Montand gives one of his best screen performances, doubtless contributing to the impressive box office success of the film in France.   The film is also marked by the brief appearance of a 17-year old Isabelle Huppert (now an acting legend) in one of her earliest screen roles.

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  Director: Claude Sautet
Starring: Yves Montand, Romy Schneider, Sami Frey, Bernard Le Coq, Eva Maria Meineke

Synopsis
After her divorce, Rosalie lives with César, a wealthy but temperamental scrap-metal dealer.  All is well until out of the blue appears David, Rosalie’s former lover, the man who wrecked her earlier marriage.  César notices that Rosalie is still attracted towards David and, driven mad by jealosy, he drives her away.  Rosalie returns to David and they renew their earlier romance.  Then César reappears and again Rosalie is torn between her two lovers...



Credits
  • Director: Claude Sautet
  • Script: Jean-Loup Dabadie, Claude Néron, Claude Sautet
  • Photo: Jean Boffety
  • Music: Philippe Sarde
  • Cast: Yves Montand (Cesar), Romy Schneider (Rosalie), Sami Frey (David), Bernard Le Coq (Michel), Eva Maria Meineke (Lucie), Henri-Jacques Huet (Marcel), Isabelle Huppert (Marite), Gisela Hahn (Carla), Hervé Sand (Georges), Jacques Dhéry, Pippo Merisi (Albert), Carlo Nell (Julien), Umberto Orsini (Antoine), Michel Piccoli (Récitant)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 110 min
  • Aka: César and Rosalie



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