Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Claire's Knee Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 9, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales from Criterion.

One of the rather interesting if simultaneously peculiar trivia points about world cinema is how fecund the French movie critic community has been in producing titans of film making. The iconic French publication Cahiers du Cinéma was a virtual hotbed of activity in this regard, and if names like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut may be at the apex of any list culled from those who began as writers for the magazine and who went on to storied careers in film, there are any number of others, including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and the man responsible for the six films (some shorts) in this collection, Éric Rohmer. Rohmer's fame may have at least temporarily eclipsed the likes of Godard and Truffaut, for a little while anyway, when the trifecta of My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, and Love in the Afternoon became international sensations as the sixties gave way to the seventies. An obituary for Rohmer in a major newspaper mentioned his "durability" and suggested that even if he didn't have the immediate name recognition of some of his peers, his work had outlasted any flash in the pan sensibility that may have attended releases of films by other former critics. Really fascinatingly in the "trivial pursuit" category is the fact that all six of the "tales" aggregated as exemplars of "morality" by Rohmer are based, at least tangentially, on F.W. Murnau's legendary Sunrise.

Claire's Knee is one of the most celebrated films in Rohmer's oeuvre, even if at least one aspect of this film's presentation of a man stumbling through romantic (mis)adventures may strike post #metoo sensibilities as slightly provocative. Jérôme (Jean-Claude Brialy) is another brainy Rohmer male character who is nonetheless conveniently (for the purposes of a screenplay) clunkily unintelligent when it comes to the ways of the heart. While on a scenic vacation prior to a planned wedding, Jérôme first reunites with an old friend named Aurora (Aurora Cornu), who in turn ultimately leads Jérôme to two half sisters, Laura (Béatrice Romand) and Claire (Laurence de Monaghan). It's the admittedly awkward interchanges between the rather young Laura and Jérôme that may at least intermittently raise some contemporary eyebrows, even if it's ultimately Jérôme's obsession with Claire that drives the narrative.

Rather interestingly, especially with regard to Rohmer's tendency toward having males succumb to desire (if only for a moment) throughout the Moral Tales, Jérôme remains at least relatively chaste throughout this enterprise, and this is instead more of a dialectic presentation of a man perhaps (to put this in Freudian terms) experiencing skirmishes between his Ego and Id. Once again, as with La Collectionneuse, and arguably even more so, Rohmer offers some absolutely luscious locations in stunning color, with cinematography once again by the legendary Néstor Almendros.

Claire's Knee Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Claire's Knee is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion's insert booklet states that "the restoration of all six films was undertaken by Les Films du Losange, with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)", and further specifies that this particular film was transferred in 2K from the original camera negative. If you want to spend a couple of hours just lolling about the amazing French countryside, there's no better double feature than watching this film and La Collectionneuse. As mentioned above, this film may be even more scenic than its predecessor, and the gorgeous color cinematography is very well represented here. It's interesting to find some online commentary from Rohmer stating how important greens were to his vision, because as you can perhaps see from some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, outdoor material in particular seems to be deliberately timed slightly toward greens or yellow-greens. That said, things like flesh tones remain natural looking. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout. Grain resolves naturally.

Claire's Knee Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Claire's Knee features a nicely articulated LPCM Mono track in the original French, though it may be the subtle ambient environmental effects suffusing the outdoor scenes that are the most evocative listening experience, at least in those outside moments. This is another dialogue heavy film, and all spoken material is delivered without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Claire's Knee Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Criterion has packaged Claire's Knee and Love in the Afternoon together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which, while "officially" listed under one particular film, may be more general in nature.

Claire's Knee

• The Curve (1999) (HD; 16:46) is an interesting short that's actually the work of Edwige Shaki, which Rohmer edited.


• Le Journal du Cinéma (HD; 8:43) is from an episode of a 1970 French television series featuring interviews with Jean-Claude Brialy, Béatrice Romand and Laurence de Monaghan. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 2:40)

Love in the Afternoon

• Véronique and Her Dunce (1958) (HD; 18:22) follows the travails of a tutor.


• Afterword by Neil Labute (HD; 11:50) stems from 2006.


• Trailer (HD; 4:06)

Claire's Knee Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If some of the relatively early interchanges between Jérôme and Laura may have some wincing and silently saying, "Please don't go there," the good news is Rohmer in fact doesn't "really" go there, and he even remains kind of charmingly chaste with Jérôme's interactions with Claire. Technical merits are solid, and Claire's Knee comes Highly recommended.