NELLY ET MONSIEUR ARNAUD Movie Review
Nelly and Mr. Arnaud
Films like Claude Sautet's thoroughly wonderful Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud are what many of us immediately flash on when we dream the dream of French cinema: a complex tapestry of relationships, revelations, and longing in which the romantic dilemmas and real-life despair of wounded human beings can be dealt with over coffee and croissants, rather than AK-47s and Uzis. There's something immensely satisfying—and subtly voyeuristic—in settling back and immersing one's self in the story of Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), an exquisite young woman who finds little satisfaction in either her marriage or her job and decides to do something about it. Nelly is introduced to a much older man. Monsieur Arnaud (Michel Serrault), a judge who offers her a job typing his dictated memoirs. As she begins to find power in how attracted he is to her, the two engage in a delicate erotic duel in which each is intrigued what the other is hiding; Arnaud wants the truth of Nelly's body, while Nelly wants to be the one who can make the judge reveal his real secrets instead of the heroic cliches he dictates. Without revealing the outcome, I can tell you that a single, memorable image of Nelly's back as she sleeps becomes one of the most evocative and erotic images you'll ever see in a film. Perhaps it's simply an adult movie fantasy, but Sautet's film rekindles our hopes that somewhere, adults really do speak to each other, interact with each other, and behave with gallantry, sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and restraint. And if they don't—well, I suppose that's what movies are for.
NEXT STOP … Vincent, François, Paul and the Others, Un Coeur en Hiver, La Belle Noiseuse
1995 105m/C IT GE FR Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Serrault, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Francoise Brion, Claire Nadeau, Michael Lonsdale, Charles Berling, Michele Laroque; D: Claude Sautet; W: Jacques Fieschi, Claude Sautet; C: Jean-Francois Robin; M: Philippe Sarde. Cesar Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Serrault), Best Director (Sautet); Nominations: British Academy Awards ‘96: Best Foreign Film; Cesar Awards ‘96: Best Actress (Beart), Best Film, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor (Anglade, Lonsdale), Best Supporting Actress (Nadeau), Best Writing, Best Score. VHS, Letterbox NYF