Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud

This is a wonderful film. The two leads are extraordinary. They express so much emotion with a slight movement in their eyes. It's about two lonely people. Their friendship seems to fill an unspoken void in their lives. The director is able to show so much emotion by merely showing the audience the little things, instead of exploding the screen with mawkishness. Every time I see this film, I find something else to savor in it.

I came across this film, purely by chance, when it was shown on terrestrial TV a couple of years ago. It's a beautiful study of a complex relationship between an older man - the urbane, world-weary Monsieur Arnaud (Michel Serrault) - and the beautiful young woman (Emmanuelle Béart) he hires to assist him in the writing of his memoirs. Initially, they are dependent on each other for different reasons - Nelly financially and Arnaud on the direction Nelly brings to his work - but as the film progresses they become more emotionally attached and the implications of this is the film's main theme. The depth of feeling that develops between the two characters comes across very strongly, thanks mainly to the quality of the two lead performances, while the sexual aspect is merely hinted at and is all the more erotic for it. If subtlety and suggestion are what you look for in a film, "Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud" should be high on your list of 'must see' movies.

Emmanuelle Beart and the movie itself are simply beautiful, gentle and breathtaking. So-French -totally in a good way; the movie has its own pace and tone. Everything is beyond excellency: acting, cinematography, direction and first of all (it all starts with) the perfect original script. They don't make these kind of movies often (and so well-done). If you like heart and truth you have to see this quiet modern masterpiece (and Un Coeur en Hiver, also with the dazzling Emmanuelle Beart).

This comment, in the form of a poem, is dedicated to the late Claude Sautet, one of France's premier directors...

NELLY ET M. ARNAUD

Empty shelves: his library divested. Nothing written, except memory, invests this moment, this immediacy. In the dim light his worn hand almost caresses her young body, but we, in the dark, must estimate the camera's intent. What he had held in abeyance too long shadows his face.

And the rain, the hard Parisian rain. Cognac at tables for two. Another man, a younger man. These scenes will lead us to believe in temporary convenience... the "stolen moments." Vivid beauty flashed on the computer screen, four centuries preserved. Manipulated, changed, "seared with trade." What remains, embraced, has no passport, has no traveling bags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thank you and farewell, M. Sautet

How many film-makers make their greatest masterpiece as their last film? Not many, but to that select list, add Claude Sautet. Nelly & M. Arnaud is exquisite.

It is cinema.

This is to say that, in common with most truly and unquestionably great films, it could not exist with such power in any other art. The most difficult and also the most wonderful films are the films that take place, primarily in their character's hearts. It was not important what Charles Foster Kane *did*, but what he felt. In this film too, we experience the primacy of human feelings.

We do this through two luminous performances that reveal just how coarse is the acting that we habitually see in block-buster movies. One of the many deep emotions that overcame me when I first saw this film was that sheer privilege to see such acting.

To see the very gradual, subtle and beautiful love that develops between the two central characters is to get a glimpse of heaven. A film, then, not of love, but the possibility of love, and a warning without didacticism that we all should grasp love if we are given the opportunity.

Perhaps the greatest joy of cinema is its ability to allow us to experience rare emotion. This wonderful, wonderful film does that in an effortless way, without sentimentality, and for that we should be eternally grateful. Thank you M. Sautet, wherever you may be.