Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

César et Rosalie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Claude Sautet and Romy Schneider Duo.

According to the IMDb, Romy Schneider had 64 credits as an actress, though that list includes several television appearances, including (rather incredibly) two guest shots made on two consecutive weeks in 1969 on the then insanely popular Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (note that the link points to a DVD set, currently the only way that show is available on disc). While Schneider’s career lasted around thirty years, before her untimely death in 1982 at the tender age of 43, for those who are only prone to attending “American” movies (whether or not that appellation is completely appropriate in all instances), Schneider may be known due to only a relative handful of performances in films like The Trial, The Victors, The Cardinal, Good Neighbor Sam and perhaps especially What's New Pussycat?. Those films were all released over the course of just three years between 1962 and 1965, meaning Schneider’s “impact” on more cloistered American audiences watching only “native” films was relatively brief. While world cinema aficionados are probably no doubt aware of at least some (and quite possibly many) of Schneider’s many other performances, including in Luchino Visconti’s Ludwig, there are still a glut of international properties featuring Schneider that probably aren’t generally that well known on this side of the pond. Film Movement’s Film Movement Classics imprint has been coming to film lovers' aid in that regard with an increasing number of releases that have featured Schneider, including The Sissi Collection from a couple of years ago, and the newly released (and recently reviewed) L'important c'est d'aimer. Coming out at the same time as that last named film, this new two-fer aggregates a double feature of Schneider films that offer her in what became one of her more notable collaborations in the 1970s, with co-writer and director Claude Sautet.

Romy Schneider and Claude Sautet were on a “once a year” schedule starting with 1970’s Les choses de la vie, which was then followed by Max and the Junkmen and this film at more or less annual intervals. If Max et les ferrailleurs (the film’s original French title) was a bit of a callback to some of Sautet’s earlier noir influenced films like Classe Tous Risques (note the link points to a DVD) and L'Arme à gauche, César and Rosalie revisits at least the same general ménage à trois ambience as Les choses de la vie, albeit with an arguably more whimsical tone.

Considering the overheated melodrama that is at the core of Les choses de la vie, César et Rosalie is a perhaps surprisingly charming soufflé of a film that documents the interplay between Rosalie (Romy Schneider), César (Yves Montand), and David (Sami Frey). In a way, César et Rosalie plays like the flip side of Les choses de la vie, in that this film posits a woman (maybe) needing to make a choice between two men. There’s the blustery, blue collar type César, and the more artistic, relatively reserved David, but the film plays its cards pretty close to its vest, and in fact some may feel that there’s no clear resolution to the situation, which may in fact be part of the film’s charm.

There's less structural ingenuity in this film than in the deliberately disjunctive Les choses de la vie, but like the earlier film, César et Rosalie offers a trio of really nicely inflected performances, even if the general outlines of the plot are pretty hoary. Schneider is of course heartfelt and beautiful, but it's perhaps Montand, here seen as probably intentionally different from some of his more suave characterizations, who may be of most interest.

Note: César et Rosalie received a Blu-ray release in the UK several years ago from StudioCanal. Svet's César et Rosalie Blu-ray review of that version offers his probably even more positive response to the film, and is also a good resource for screenshot comparisons.

César et Rosalie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

César and Rosalie is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Unfortunately, Film Movement only tends to offer generic "new digital restoration" verbiage in their insert booklets without providing any further information, but I was not able to dredge up any information online (including on StudioCanal's own site) about any even relatively recent restoration, and in fact about the only data point I could find mentioned several Sautet films having been "remastered", albeit in 2014, so I'm at a loss to provide much authoritative commentary on the provenance of the master. That said, this looks very much like the release Svet reviewed years ago, and which is linked to above. Things look generally good here, though as with some other Film Movement releases (including the other offering in this set), I'm not always completely convinced by the color timing, which seems a bit on the cool side. There's also a tendency for some blacks to look a little hazy and even milky at times. That said, detail levels are generally very pleasing throughout the presentation and some of the outdoor material in particular pops quite well. I noticed no major compression issues.

César et Rosalie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

César et Rosalie features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original French (with optional English subtitles). The film benefits from a beautiful score by Philippe Sarde, which sounds warm and full bodied throughout. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly as well, and I noticed no age related issues whatsoever.

César et Rosalie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Serenade for Three (1080p; 29:59) is a really well done documentary offering many of the same talking heads seen in the documentary included on the Les choses de la vie disc as a supplement, including Geneviève Cortier, Jacqueline Thiedot, Michelle de Broca, and Jean-Loup Dabadie, discussing the production. In French with English subtitles.

As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about and a trailer for Film Movement. The nicely appointed booklet contains an interesting essay by David N. Meyer.

César et Rosalie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

César & Rosalie has subtext galore, including some not very subtle digs at bourgeois sensibilities and "keeping up appearances" (to quote a famous show title from across the English Channel), but the basic storyline is pretty old hat (beret?). Still, the film is undeniably charming and even breezy at times, and it offers a trio of really winning focal performances. Technical merits are generally solid, and the accompanying featurette is quite interesting as well. Recommended.