"Claire's Knee"

The French film, Claire's Knee, directed by Eric Rohmer in 1970 is a film filled with drama and romance. The film takes place in the 70's. There are several characters in the film that contribute well to the story line. The main character, Jerome, is a thirty-five year old man that is about to get married in a month. He meets is friend who is a writer, Aurora. They both happen to be staying at Lake Annecy in France during the summer. There they meet two girls Laura and Claire. Jerome is interested in both girls especially by their beauty. Once, he has meet Claire he is taken by her. Throughout the rest of the movie he tries to get closer to Claire. Aurora is in the background most of the time observing Jerome. Jerome claims he is only interested in those girls so he can help Aurora write her book. The ending is ambiguous and the audience does not know whether Jerome gets married or not and if Claire stays with her "possibly cheating" boyfriend.

The film is much like the film "Shoot the Piano Player". The characteristics of existentialism fit well with this film. The audience tends to get lost with the story from time to time. It was hard to figure out if Jerome was really trying to help Aurora write her book or if he was a creep and going after much younger girls. The idea of him kissing Laura and being obsessed with Claire's knee is quite absurd. This film like "Shoot the Piano Player" is borderline between modern and post-modern. It has the characteristics of Hollywood tradition with the film being about a male and romance but then during parts of the film it takes some steps further. For example, when the parents let Laura go off with Jerome and then they kiss and hold hands that scene was awkward and uncomfortable to see. The actors/actresses did a wonderful job with their roles.

The cinematography was very basic and also kept stylistically the film together. The only close (I think) occurred close to the ending when Claire and Jerome got caught in the rain. Claire was upset about what Jerome told her about her boyfriend. She starts to cry and Jerome sits besides her and caresses her knee. The camera zoomed in on his hand and her knee.

The film was hard to follow and slow in some parts. I was confused during parts of the movie. Also, it was hard to figure out what the film was trying to say with the ending. I also was drawn more to Aurora and would have liked to have seen her character developed more than the young ladies, Laura and Claire. I live you with a quote that was used in the film that I liked a lot. I think Jerome said this: "Having fun is like being a live."