César et Rosalie

This is a good drama romance. Anyone who loves 60s and 70s French cinema, will like this as well. It starts as a typical "love triangle" movie, and whereas it's not brilliant or revolutionary, it has a few tricks up its sleeve. After the first hour, things get exciting and there are some interesting turns. First hour was still good, not for a second it got boring, however during the second hour, movie got better and more unpredictable : I couldn't guess what's gonna happen in the next minutes.

For me, ending was great. Sure it was strange but that's why i appreciated it. Ending could have been a typical 70's ending, i love 70's cinema but many endings are identical and unimaginative, regarding drama/romance movies. Not the case here. Unfortunately, in the last 10 seconds, something illogical happened, something against the flow of this particular ending. But that's ok, i choose to pretend it never happened.

Romy Schneider is captivating, Sami Frey was good but anyone who has watched this movie, knows who stole the show.

Yves Montand is tremendous. Not only he's charismatic, but his character is real, mean, we all know guys like him. This character is a deeply flawed person, a person who other people should avoid because they are so self-centered that can't be trusted. Yet, he made this character as likeable as he could possibly be. And that's proof of his greatness.

"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.

Yet another object lesson in how to do relationships. Why is it the French find it so effortless to explore the Human Condition As Entertainment. Why is it they can deal so facilely with pain and heartbreak and still make us smile. Okay, it helps if you have a great leading man, a beautiful leading lady, plus a great writer and a great director but that's still not quite enough and what you really need is something in the water. Jean-Loup Dabadie is still under-appreciated as the multi-talent he is. He thinks nothing of adapting Foreign plays into French (Bill Gibson's 'Two For The See-Saw' became 'Deux pour la balancoir' at Dabadie's hand and was a great hit at the Theatre Montparnasse three or four seasons ago) turning out screenplays like this one and even writing lyrics (he wrote 'Valentin' for Montand's son and in so doing gave Montand a late hit). Here he contributes a virtually perfect screenplay on our old friend the Eternal Triangle theme. This film is so perfect that you get the feeling that on the first day of shooting the Good Fairy turned up on the set and waved her Magic wand blessing the entire project. Love, Desire, Pain, Laughter, if you don't get enough of those at home pull up a chair, slip in the DVD/video and sup your fill. You won't regret a moment of it.

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.

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.