User Reviews

This film is so similar in feel to Un Coeur En Hiver that it feels like a sequel of sorts. Of course, it is by the same director, stars the same actress and has the same writers.

The problem with this film is that it is a watered-down version of the story. If UCEH is the meat, NEMA is the soup made with the bones of that film.

UCEH had drama, psychological struggle, a love-triangle (of sorts), a serious talent and career under jeopardy, a business and business relationships being threatened, strong feelings and major pain. This, in comparison, is much less the sequel of that film than an aftertaste. Instead of a professional violinist we have a part-time typist, part-time cashier at a bakery. Instead of deep emotions and fire, we get some warmth, instead of conflict we have nothing. Nelly divorces her husband with total coldness, yet he just shrugs it off. I'm fine with a character having a cold heart, but this film is a world without emotion. Nelly feels nothing towards her husband, the husband is indifferent to his wife leaving him, she doesn't react much when she sees him with another woman, not a hint of residual feelings, no jealousy, seller's remorse, nothing. Nelly's feelings towards Arnaud are weak, his feelings towards her are also not that strong beyond attraction, but no jealousy whatsoever. Nelly's feelings towards her boyfriend are weak (she doesn't want to move in with him) and his feelings towards her are just as weak ("You don't want to move in with me? Good night. Don't call me again. Have a good life. We're finished here. Cheque please.").

The characters are all variants of the same person, all somewhat cold, distant, calculated and passionless. I can understand the lack of fire from a dying marriage, but not from a new relationship considering living together. Break ups, divorces, hookups, crises, meetings, attractions, all have the same level of intensity - 3/10. No peaks, no lows. Just a slow cook form start to end.

There is no change of circumstances, no twist and ultimately no plot beyond an attraction of an older man to a pretty woman typing his dictation.

are featured rather prominently in this ultra sophisticated film by Claude Sautet, perhaps to the point of annoyance for some. Mlle. Beart, whom I first saw in Claude Berri's Manon of the Spring (1986), has largest, most beautiful eyes one would ever want to see, and she is a fine actress with a smooth and subtle style. However I think that Sautet worked too exclusively with glances of nuance, raised and lowered lids, eyes widened and narrowed and such and such to further the story and to create character when he might have added a line of dialogue here and there.

Yet I liked this and certainly prefer such a style to the loud gestures and over the top hysterics that some directors might have employed. Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (Beart and Michel Serrault) do raise their voices once--a lover's spat one might say, he to perhaps show he is still alive, she to show that she cares enough to get angry with him and has an independent spirit.

This then is a love story, super fine like gossamer and civilized to the point of something close to a burlesque of being civilized, and yet, and yet, because he is well past the age of retirement and she a vibrant young woman in her prime, the story must be presented in symbol and gesture: the back rub, the Platonic staying overnight, the little spat mentioned above, the muted jealousies, the stealthy triumph of the returning wife--in short it has everything a love affair might have, the bittersweet (their parting) and the bitter (a night with another, younger man) and the very sweet (the Sauternes, Château d'Yquem, no less, older than the woman herself, apres diner).

What Sautet does so well and so completely here is show how such a bloodless affair can touch the heart of both the old guy who knows that he can never express himself sexually and the young woman who knows that as well, how their love is emotional and deeply felt but like those two ships passing in the night, ephemeral and at some unavoidable distance. One could say--and I think we'll all felt this--that the two are soul mates separated by an implacable difference in age who by chance experience an intimation of their love together, and then it is gone.

I also liked the behavior in which Nelly says she has done something and then, only after she has said she has done it, does she do it! At first she rejects Arnaud's financial help. Then she tells her husband that she has gotten this money from an older man, gratis, and only then does she accept the money. Later in the film she tells Arnaud that she spent the night with the editor when she has not, and then afterwards, she does spend the night with him. Interesting psychology. I have actually known someone who would do that. It is like trying out an action to see how it is received before doing it! There is one rather serious problem with this DVD. On my Samsung flat screen TV only the first line of the subtitles could be read. Only the very top of the second line appeared, forcing me to miss some of the subtleties of the dialogue. I understand this is in the DVD since other reviewers have reported the same problem.

See this for Michel Serrault, whose credits in 12-point type are longer than my arm (IMDb lists 155 as an actor) and for Emmanuelle Beart whose unique beauty is unforgettable.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Exquisite movie. Sautet's a director who builds up his films moment by moment without you realizing the full extent of the feelings involved, usually until the very end. And he doesn't do it with the typical Hollywood flash. He allows you to realize things yourself. This movie of his is no exception. Sautet, through his characters and his directorial realization of the scripted story, is someone who sees above the pettiness of the everyday world.

If you haven't genuine love and understanding in your life, you have something considerably less. Late in his life, Monsieur Arnaud, one of the title characters, finally gets it and through his relationship with Nelly (and others) allow us, the audience, to do so also, definitely by the end of this story. 4 aces, five stars, 10 votes, whatever, this is a must-see, especially for Sautet fans who've seen and like his other works.

Nelly, a young Parisian woman, is married to Jerome, a man who for all appearances does not want to work. Whatever brought them together is keeping them apart, something that Nelly tells Jerome early on as they split. Nelly, who has had a few uninteresting jobs, even selling bread in a bakery, owes money that she will have to repay.

Hope arrives as she and Jacqueline meet one day at a cafe. Looking from their table, Jacqueline notices an elderly man enter the place. She confesses to Nelly he is Monsieur Arnaud, who was her lover. Upon hearing Nelly's predicament, Arnaud offers her a job in helping him with the memoirs he has written and he is now revising before the work is published. Arnaud has led an interesting life as a judge in a French possession. With the job, Arnaud tells Nelly he will give her the money in order for her to repay what she owes.

It is obvious Arnaud likes the young woman; he would like to have her, but he is too wise a man to realize he has no chance, or that their age difference, will be an obstacle. That is why Arnaud says nothing and acts instead in a subtle way, but ultimately the interest Nelly awakens in Vincent Granec, the editor in charge of the book, proves to be the thing that will work against him.

Claude Sautet, the French director, who died right after this film was made, showed he had a great sense of style as well as telling a mature story for more sophisticated viewers. Mr. Sautet contributed to the screenplay, which leaves things to the audience to solve rather than solve the problem for us. Mr. Sautet left an impressive number of films for the delight of his followers.

The best thing in the film is Michel Serrault. This versatile actor makes an impression with his subtle performance about a man that can still feel a passion, but is aware a liaison with Nelly will be fatal as far as getting the young woman to love him for what he is. Emmanuelle Beart also has a good opportunity as the shy woman that has been married to the wrong man. Although beautiful she only wears dowdy clothes, perhaps not to provoke the desire that might involve her in an affair she knows is not for her. One thing is clear, Ms. Beart, as a typist, or even a secretary, would not have been able to make a living, but in the make believe world of the movies, one wonders how those memoirs could have been typed since it is obvious she had no clue how to use a keyboard! Anyway, someone as beautiful as her, should never have to worry about those menial things. Jean-Hughes Anglade makes a valuable contribution as Granec, the man that falls in love with Nelly. Claire Nadeau and Francoise Brion, as well as Charles Berling are among the supporting players.

I watched my first Claude Sautet film two nights ago. It was titled Cesar and Rosalie.

My response was intense. In fact, intense doesn't even cover it. Make that uber intense. Cesar and Rosalie was absolute perfection. I had never seen anything quite like that on the screen before and was left completely infatuated with Claude Sautet. Mr. Sautet had somehow worked himself into my very biochemistry because my enchantment demanded to be fed. I had to see another Claude Sautet film as soon as possible.

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud was the one I got a hold of. All day long I looked forward to seeing it. I couldn't wait. But, alas...

Oh, well. It was so lovely having Mr. Sautet up there on a pedestal. Even if only for a short while. But now I realize he was a fellow human. Sigh. A wonderful filmmaker yes, but human and thus inevitably flawed.

I was disappointed in this film -- Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud. Most especially with the casting. Sorry, but NONE of the men were sympatico. Neither in their physical presence nor in their personalities. At least not in my opinion. And that sucked a lot of vitality right out of the film.

Michel Serrault did not have a scintilla of masculine appeal. I never bought that Beart was in the least attracted to him. Merely using him as a distraction from the pain of her divorce instead.

I thought it was kind of interesting that the actor who played the editor with whom Beart became romantically involved bore a physical resemblance to Serrault. In fact, he very much looked like what Michel Serrault might have looked like back when he was a young man with dark hair himself.

I think Sautet may have fashioned the resemblance deliberately. Why? I don't know.

The actor who played Beart's husband was also physically completely nondesript. Or at least presented as such.

Again, all of this served to rob the film of true romantic tension and, therefore, made it difficult to really buy into the story line.

But it was still a wonderful film, of course. Full of complexity, witty and intriguing dialogue and well worth watching. Just not perfect. JMO.

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud is an exquisite, beautifully written and acted film. The characters are complex and interesting. They are also completely believable. Although the film deals with emotions, the film is never mawkish or maudlin and the characters are never allowed to descend to the level of drama for the sake of drama. I found the story enthralling from beginning to end. I was a bit concerned about the "adult love story" description. But, amazingly in this day and age, this film is free of ugly graphic sex scenes. Michel Serrault gives an excellent performance full of nuance and subtle changes. Emmanuelle Beart is effective and holds her own with Serrault. This is a film not to be missed.

As the movie opens, an old man (Monsieur Arnaud), who is accomplished and wealthy but alone in the world, offers to erase the mounting debts of a talented and beautiful young woman (Nelly), whom he barely knows. This rather arrogant intrusion into her life, which carries obvious strings even though they are vehemently denied, has serious and immediate consequences. First off, she dumps her husband, who for some odd reason, won't get off his ass and isn't nearly upset enough about what the old man is up to. He sits around their apartment all day long, smoking, watching television, and reading the paper. Many people suffer long stretches of unemployment, but this guy won't lift a finger. He could write, paint, build something, or perhaps start his own business, but he is completely unmotivated and depressed for no apparent reason. As the movie progresses, we begin to understand why he lacked motivation. Once the girl dumps him, he picks himself right up, which gives us a clue about what was bothering him.

She takes the old guy's money and then agrees to work with him as a typist on his memoirs, which are scheduled for publication. In the course of their association, he confides in her more and more. Eventually, he confesses his darkest secret -- that he was something of a bastard during the second half of his career, the business phase that followed his stint as a judge in Polynesia. He describes how he watched as his embezzling partner was thrown in prison, then with self-righteous indignation and an unsuppressed desire for vengeance, manipulated the situation to utterly destroy his life, hoping the ordeal would kill him. The friend survived, however, but became a walking hulk of a man. The old guy, feeling guilty and responsible for it, helps keep him out of the gutter by providing him with a small weekly stipend.

What is the attraction going on under the surface between the ruthless judge/businessman turned Mr. Nice Guy and the beautiful young (but coolly detached and efficient) Nelly? Other than her need for security and his for companionship, perhaps that they are both selfish and yet afraid, he trying to change in his dotage and she just getting started. For despite her pleasant exterior, we come to find that Nelly is both a consummate liar and something of a lush. The way she sort of wallows in a glass of wine and compulsively slugs it down makes it appear that one day she will have a serious problem with the booze. The old guy gives her everything he can (money, gainful employment, friendship and camaraderie), but he is on medication for a heart condition and is apparently impotent. So on the very night he treats her to romantic meal at an expensive restaurant, she visits his young editor friend for a night of passionate sex. The old guy is left stuck at home where we see him in the kitchen comforted only by a glass of cold milk. How pathetic.

This woman seems to have no sense of decency and obviously enjoys hurting the old man. No doubt she resents him for buying her company and her services too cheaply and easily. Soon enough, the editor realizes that Nelly is shallow and cold and won't commit to another "loser" in the wake of her divorce, so after giving her a referral to another job, he dumps her without the slightest hesitation. His decision is so sudden and easy that we can see she has met her match, for he is at least as coldly calculating in the romance department as she is. Then she goes whining to the old guy again and ends up half-drunk, so she asks to sleep over, but the most the old duffer can muster is to sit beside her bed (in the guest room) and stroke her hair as she sleeps in the buff. We've heard of father figures before but this is too much. Just when you think they might finally get together, his ex-wife shows up, and on the spur of the moment, the old couple takes off on a whirlwind tour, leaving Nelly behind with the last chapters of his tome to finish up by herself. Only when the old man and the young girl quickly embrace and say goodbye is it evident how much they really cared for one another.

The title "Nelly and Monsieur Artaud" suggests both a friendship and an unequal relationship. We know Nelly (an editor) through her responses to the men in her life. We know Monsieur Artaud through his long history, careers, ideas, and finally through his relationship with women, past and present. They are not on the same social plane in life nor in the movie, and to imagine anything more than an occasionally touching friendship between them is to make a mistake.

Pierre Artuad is a rather wealthy, dapper gentleman, once a judge in the pacific islands, and then a luminary in the business world. He's sophisticated, in touch with history, politics, and the arts; has authored two books, and owns a impressive private library. He's obviously opposed to French colonialism: the native's "constant smile told me I wasn't wanted." And in listing the countries of his long postponed worldwide trip, notes "to places where they don't kill tourists." As a "fearsome businessman" with an "unbending" hateful son working for Microsoft in Seattle, he nevertheless despises the corrupting power of big business which "does not leave you a better man." As his ex-partner says, "I'd rather be his friend than his enemy." But judging by his advancements in colonial law and in a pretty ruthless business practice, his scruples were more adaptive than provoking--of change.

Still Monsieur Artaud does possess a significant degree of self-awareness. He accepted the judgeship because of his "sedentary nature," and his sharp mental discipline and discerning eye matched up well with a business career. His wife, he tells us, left him during one of his "acute states of ordinary misogyny," and he is very cognizant of his poor "track record" with women. "I was a lousy father, and a lousy husband," he confesses. Computers are a bane to him, and his extensive private library in now of no use to him--"I'm at an age when I read the same few books over and over." He says of Nelly's husband, he's "insolent but in a nice way." His friend Jackie praises his capacity for listening, and describes him to Nelly as "delicate and civilized," adding that "his eyes don't miss a thing." But he can ridicule his wife to Nelly, broadcasting her readiness to criticize his business ethics, while indulging in luxurious tastes. Finally, Artuad is a humorous man, at least since the leisure of retirement and the wisdom of advanced age--he says to Jackie whose latest man is another cad: "Why not me, I can offer liberty, security----and austerity." So, what do we know about Nelly? I'm afraid not too much by way of identity. She's an out of work editor making do with odd jobs. She's divorcing a husband who would rather speak to an encyclopedia salesman than seek employment, and dating Monsieur Artaud's squinty publisher. We know she's competent and can be incredibly firm in her actions and words. We don't know her last name. We never see her mother. Through her, Pierre Artuaud unfolds, but the reverse cannot be said. (For Artaud seems to chiefly question her about her sex life--imagined or real). We also know that she has a frankness with men that can be very telling. Baert/Nelly is at her very peak (as actor/person) in her radically exposing break-off scene with Granec. And she is perfectly at ease criticizing Artaud's writing style and content, as well as his "heinous" business practices. In this sense, and with all her obvious and credited charm, she has a trans-formative effect on him, drawing him out and away from accustomed solitude.

The question is: is she similarly changed by this unlikely relationship? Does she have more identity in the end or more security---I mean being left totally in charge of her editing work is a far cry from kneading bread dough. Yes, Nelly has rubbed shoulders with another class, and been touched by the grace of an old man, but is this real change? His interest in her as too often been prying, too often been based on that "passion which never dies" (even as he resists it), and too often been traced back to his own self-interest. Actually there is one moment in which he did seem to add something to her life. It was in that business café, in commenting on the gawkers, Nelly says they see "me as a prostitute," and he counters by saying "or gorgeous courageous professional." But in general, he only has his prestige and difference to offer, which are less a change than an experience. And in the end her own scruples over her expressed rage in back-to-back scenes with Granec and Artaud, are not so easily shut down as the far graver ones of her breezy companion, and in a moment, the bright light of day fades to night.