Ein Herz im Winter

The plot revolves around the 'love triangle' of Camille, Stephan, and Maxine. Camille is a young up and coming concert violinist, and Stephan and Maxine are violin craftsmen. Camille is one of their many clients. The main character of this film, Stephan--played by Daniel Auteuil--is brilliant. He is a good looking and quiet man who knows what he wants and is secure in this: solitude--regardless of the amorous advances of Camille, the beautiful and brilliant young violinist who winds up dating his business partner Maxime, and whom he could seduce very easily. Many people analyzing Stephan's character would immediately say that he is sociopathic, deranged, insecure, or whatever. But Stephan is actually fully in control of his life throughout the whole film. He is not aware of fleeting passions like infatuation because he does not exist outside of passion: He is passion incarnate as he is very in tune with what he wants and is skillful at asserting his desires; so much so that those who encounter him become very jarred. His personna functions as a mirror that reflects other people's neuroses and fears back at them instead of absorbing them into itself and thus becoming poisoned. In this way, he's almost like a freelance mobile psychoanalyst passing through different bistros and concert halls in Paris, and disrupting the otherwise 'normal' relationships of those he encounters. The psychological tension throughout the film is thick from the start, and reaches a point of absolute saturation at its apogee. The viewer cannot help but find himself emotionally invested in the plot. The background score of the film is beautiful.

No-one can portray emotion in cinema as well as the French, as this movie proves. Auteil is wonderful as the stoic and enigmatic central figure, a man of few words and even fewer facial expressions who is both fascinating and exasperating. Emmanuel Beart is surely one of the most beautiful figures to grace the screen; her eyes say all the things her words fail to. One of the many qualities to admire in this film is that what the characters do not say is more important that what they do, and rather than being vague and ambiguous, which is a polite way of often saying muddled and obscure in movies, everything is confidently conveyed through expressions and actions. This is a film that knows exactly how much to say and what about. There are some brilliantly subtle clues to Auteil's character. "Have you ever been in love?" Beart asks."probably," he replies and nothing more is said. yet despite it's casual nature we remember that comment and without any more help we conclude that this may be the real reason for his isolation now, a desperate attempt at self-preservation. The music is brilliantly chosen, and the camera draws things out of the frame naturally...Auteil touching Beart for the first time when crossing the road, the wonderful coffee shop scene, that slap from Maxim. There is also some excellent humour, especially in the argument between the old couple Auteil witnesses from outside their house. It is interesting to compare this film with Three Colours: Blue which I saw the same evening, a more explicit depiction of isolation, equally powerful through different methods.

A visually-beautiful film. Even if the plot were not good (but it is) it would still be worth seeing for its good-looks.

Beart (Camille) is magnificent! When I first saw the film I thought she was a real violinist, so convincing was her 'playing'. She and Auteuil (Stephane) employ that subtle 'facial' acting, so popular in French cinema. As both their faces are quite lovely, this is a pleasure to watch. Is Beart the most beautiful woman on screen? Probably.

This movie is like a dream sometimes. It gives clues to the riddles of the characters, but does not reveal their essences. Sometimes you have to wonder if the story is really a kind of allegory, with the characters as symbols, their full significance yet to be revealed.

Look out for what appears to be an important scene featuring Stephane's parents, towards the end of the film. It is not obviously enlightening, but it may prove to hold the key to his love-less character. There is a climax to the story, but no real resolution or explanation. Yes, it's the 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' unresolved-ending phenomenon back with a vengeance. And how much more interesting it makes this intriguing story!

Oh - and the music is a substantial part of the film - not just 'background', which is a good thing.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I wish to convey that I view this movie as one of the greatest ever made. (That is, if you can cope with it). Un Coeur is an exquisite and worthy swan song for veteran filmmaker Claude Sautet.

I know people who do not like this movie and charge its precepts as self-indulgent, stodgy, and other such indictments. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. For me however, the scene in which the character played by Ms. Beart is rehearsing Ravel with her quartet and the character of Mr. Auteuil stares her down as only a man from France can do; with a heady combination of lust, reluctance, and sobriety- that scene takes 'psychodrama' to a new level. C'est froid, ca!

There are only a handful of movies at the top of the mountain of Parnassus. For me, this is one of them. Bravi.

I read that Claude Sautet inspired himself in the Pechorin's Diaries, a part of Mikhael Lermontov's "A Hero Of Our Time". In Phoenix Cinema blog: "For those interested–to understand Stephan's character, read Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time. (The novel is even mentioned in the film.) Stephan is a modern-day version of Pechorin." Now Pechorin is a complex Byronesque character that has ambiguous but plausible reasons for his apparent "winter" heart. He is a formidable character in Russian literature (like Oneguine, for instance) and the paradox of his coldness is enough to make a film director/screen writer wanting to start something. This tip should be taken into account before engaging in more audacious explanations for the character of Stéphane.