César et Rosalie

I saw "Cesar and Rosalie" at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. I had only seen Claude Sautet's later movies (which I loved), and was unsure what to expect. The cinema was packed full of people, and some of the older members of the audience were laughing out loud almost immediately at Yves Montand's antics. I was a bit more restrained. But it didn't take long for me to find myself laughing as well. And not only me; it seemed like everyone there was in good spirits, young and old alike. Yves Montand's acting was incredible, Romy Schneider is terribly desirable, and the film just floated along. Definitely worth seeing, both if you're a Claude Sautet fan or if you want a charming movie about the interesting relationship which develops between the movie's three protagonists.

Special. A clear and precise Claude Sautet film. A story of love and jealousy and addiction and friendship. Beautiful acting.

Each definition works in same measure , being correct but hiding a significant part of a very simple story about two men loving, in different way, a woman.

Seduced, long time ago , by Romy Schneider, I am tempted to define Cesar and Rosalie as her film. But the jealousy of Cesar expressions, so nice translated by Yves Montand, the house of childhood and the sea, the new meeting between Rolie and David and Cesar on the beach , the powerful last scene are proves about a film who can not be defined in easy manner. Because it is a solid - gentle portrait of a relation ambiguous but so clear . And because the gift of Claude Sautet proposes the fair definitions who can be only feel.

It was Claude Sautet who revitalised the career of Romy Schneider in 'Les choses de ma vie' for which we owe him a great debt of thanks. 'César et Rosalie' is their third collaboration and although the later 'Simple Story' provided her with her best role, this is my personal favourite. An actress of immense grace and sensitivity adored by the camera whose sad end is a grim reminder that even those gifted by the Gods are subject to the hammer blows of Fate. As for Yves Montand his performance is out of the top drawer and decidedly one of this best. He plays a self-made man who is happy in his relationship with Rosalie and seemingly confident in his masculinity. He then meets Davide, a former lover of Rosalie and it is then the insecurities start to show...... Davide is perfectly played by the enigmatic Sami Frey whose shy, gentle character represents the other side of the coin. The ever-changing dynamics of this trio's relationships are fascinating to watch and although those who prefer their film endings to be conclusive might find this one unsatisfactory, the fact that it ends with a question mark makes it, in my opinion, even more interesting. Good writing makes good actors even better of course so mention must be made of Sautet's regular script collaborator Jean-Loup Dabadie. There were more beauties to come from Sautet over the next twenty years but this is certainly one to treasure. Highly recommended.

"Cesar et Rosalie" is about a love triangle between Rosalie (Romy Schneider), Cesar (Yves Montand) and David (Sami Frey). Claude Sautet would revisit the theme of a love triangle in his later film "Un coeur en hiver" (1992). In this review I will compare these two films.

Lets start with a comparison of the two men. In "Un coeur en hiver" the difference was introvert versus extrovert. We see the same difference in "Cesare et Rosalie", Cesar being the extravert one and David the introvert. This distinction is in "Cesar et Rosalie" however of secondary importance. More important is that Cesar is the businessman and David is the creative artist. If the link between the two distinctions is logical is for everyone to decide. I would rather expect that the creative one would also be extravert and the other way round.

The role of the woman is very different between the two films. In "Un coeur en hiver" Camille (Emmanuelle Beart) has a clear preference for one of the men. In "Cesar et Rosalie" Rosalie cannot choose. She likes / loves both of them. Her perfect lover would be the combination of Cesar and David.

The most surprising element of the film is the effect the behaviour of the woman has on the realtionship between the men. In "Un coeur en hiver" the love triangle creates tension between the two friends. Also in "Cesar et Rosalie" the two men (and especially Cesar) see the other one initially as an opponent. When they realise that Rosalie is never gonna choose between them a friendship gradually emerses.

"Cesar et Rosalie" is extremely well acted, at least by Yves Montand and Romy Schneider. Sami Frey remains somewhat behind. His introverted character maybe difficult to play, but in some scenes David seemed a fassion doll to me.

In love Rosalie is a very independent woman. When it comes to housekeeping however we see how much the genderroles have changed since the 70's. When Cesar and his friends are having a poker evening Rosalie becomes the waitress and when David and his colleagues are working Rosalie becomes the coffee lady. In both instances without a sign of protest.

I was amazed from this film! Not only because I usually like Yves Montand and Romy Schneider, but because above all this is a film about human feelings and reactions.

Claude Sautet's works are not intellectual movies, but they have the quality of showing people in real life, with their strength and their weakness, we can find people who laugh and cry. They are films about life, there isn't necessarily an happy ending. (In Hollywood they're not able to talk to us about REAL persons.) Simple, isn't it? A director normally shows life, you may say. But in reality I don't think it's so easy. The risk is to talk about people with exaggerations and melodramatic elements. In movies like "César et Rosalie" we find common situations, people with whom we can identify and share feelings.

Here we have a woman who can't choose between two men... (Ingmar Bergman has another approach, in choosing psychological and darker aspects of people. It's another valid method.) I chose to comment this film because it's an example of intimate cinema, a way of telling stories which talk to hearts.