Claire's Knee
Dir: Éric Rohmer
1970
*****
Éric Rohmer's dreamy Claire's Knee is a beautiful realisation of love and desire from several peoples view points. It is the fifth and penultimate film of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales and probably the most notorious. It is a very touching (excuse the pun) addition to the series, with what is pretty much a near perfect script. The dialogue is almost Shakespearean, as if the bard himself had written and then performed an autopsy on a heartfelt love letter. The film makes comment on all aspects of human desire, although it may seem like the tale of a dirty old man trying to grope a young girls leg it really isn't. Our protagonist (played by the brilliant Jean-Claude Brialy) talks us through love, life and desire with individual lessons of restraint, promise and pleasure. A simple gesture speaks a thousand words, somewhat subjectively but everything is backed up with some of the best examples of conversation ever committed to film. It's a joy and my personal favorite of Rohmer's films.