Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud

Starring:Emmanuelle BÃ©art, Michel Serrault, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Claire Nadeau, FranÃ§oise Brion, MichÃ¨le Laroque, Michael Lonsdale, Charles Berling, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Michel Albertini, Coraly Zahonero, Graziella Delerm, Olivier Pajot, Alexandre Chappuis, Karine Foviau, Laure Chamay, Sylvie Jobert, Janine Souchon, Judith Vittet, Mathilde Vitry
Director: Claude Sautet
Studio: New Yorker Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Nelly (Emmanuelle BÃ©art), a young married woman disillusioned with life and her self-unemployed husband, meets Monsieur Arnaud (Michel Serrault), an older, retired judge and businessman, through a mutual friend. The two begin a subtle, undefined relationship that leaves them in the end changed a little more profoundly than either expected. Monsieur Arnaud offers Nelly a considerable sum of money to pay her debts, no strings attached. Along with the money she accepts a job assisting Arnaud in writing his memoirs. As the writing progresses, Nelly comes to know the morally ambiguous past of her employer, and Arnaud contends with awakened feelings of longing. It ends abruptly when Arnaud and his ex-wife decide to tour the world on their way to Seattle, where he will see his estranged son. The French seem to have a talent for ambiguity and subtlety that this film shows off at its best. The relationship between the young woman and the older man is wonderfully intriguing in the way it plays out and changes each of them, and even more wonderful in that they never wind up in bed together. BÃ©art and Serrault give flawless, nuanced performances as two people caught in each other's longing. A quiet and deeply satisfying film. --James McGrath

Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud [Region 2]
Average customer rating:

The eyes of Emmanuelle Beart

Film ruined by mistake in DVD transfer

Subtitles Cut off on Widescreen TV?

Du bien beau cinéma français

Longing for Ageless Love

Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud [Region 2]
Starring: Emmanuelle Béart , Michel Serrault , Jean-Hugues Anglade , Claire Nadeau , and Françoise Brion
Director: Claude Sautet
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
Anglade, Jean Hugues | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Lonsdale, Michael | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Lorit, Jean Pierre | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Serrault, Michel | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Sautet, Claude | ( S ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
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( N ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00005KJYT

Amazon.com

Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), a young married woman disillusioned with life and her self-unemployed husband, meets Monsieur Arnaud (Michel Serrault), an older, retired judge and businessman, through a mutual friend. The two begin a subtle, undefined relationship that leaves them in the end changed a little more profoundly than either expected. Monsieur Arnaud offers Nelly a considerable sum of money to pay her debts, no strings attached. Along with the money she accepts a job assisting Arnaud in writing his memoirs. As the writing progresses, Nelly comes to know the morally ambiguous past of her employer, and Arnaud contends with awakened feelings of longing. It ends abruptly when Arnaud and his ex-wife decide to tour the world on their way to Seattle, where he will see his estranged son. The French seem to have a talent for ambiguity and subtlety that this film shows off at its best. The relationship between the young woman and the older man is wonderfully intriguing in the way it plays out and changes each of them, and even more wonderful in that they never wind up in bed together. Béart and Serrault give flawless, nuanced performances as two people caught in each other's longing. A quiet and deeply satisfying film. --James McGrath

Customer Reviews:

The eyes of Emmanuelle Beart.......2006-12-17

are featured rather prominently in this ultra sophisticated film by Claude Sautet, perhaps to the point of annoyance for some. Mlle. Beart, whom I first saw in Claude Berri's Manon of the Spring (1986), has the largest, most beautiful eyes one would ever want to see, and she is a fine actress with a smooth and subtle style. However I think that Sautet worked too exclusively with glances of nuance, raised and lowered lids, eyes widened and narrowed and such and such to further the story and to create character when he might have added a line of dialogue here and there.

Yet I liked this and certainly prefer such a style to the loud gestures and over the top hysterics that some directors might have employed. Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (Beart and Michel Serrault) do raise their voices once--a lover's spat one might say, he to perhaps show he is still alive, she to show that she cares enough to get angry with him and has an independent spirit.

This then is a love story, super fine like gossamer and civilized to the point of something close to a burlesque of being civilized, and yet, and yet, because he is well past the age of retirement and she a vibrant young woman in her prime, the story must be presented in symbol and gesture: the back rub, the Platonic staying overnight, the little spat mentioned above, the muted jealousies, the stealthy triumph of the returning wife--in short it has everything a love affair might have, the bittersweet (their parting) and the bitter (a night with another, younger man) and the very sweet (the Sauternes, Chateau d'Yquem, no less, older than the woman herself, apres diner).

What Sautet does so well and so completely here is show how such a bloodless affair can touch the heart of both the old guy who knows that he can never express himself sexually and the young woman who knows that as well, how their love is emotional and deeply felt but like those two ships passing in the night, ephemeral and at some unavoidable distance. One could say--and I think we'll all felt this--that the two are soul mates separated by an implacable difference in age who by chance experience an intimation of their love together, and then it is gone.

I also liked the behavior in which Nelly says she has done something and then, only after she has said she has done it, does she do it! At first she rejects Arnaud's financial help. Then she tells her husband that she has gotten this money from an older man, gratis, and only then does she accept the money. Later in the film she tells Arnaud that she spent the night with the editor when she has not, and then afterwards, she does spend the night with him. Interesting psychology. I have actually known someone who would do that. It is like trying out an action to see how it is received before doing it!

There is one rather serious problem with this DVD. On my Samsung flat screen TV only the first line of the subtitles could be read. Only the very top of the second line appeared, forcing me to miss some of the subtleties of the dialogue. I understand this is in the DVD since other reviewers have reported the same problem.

See this for Michel Serrault, whose credits in 12-point type are longer than my arm (IMDb lists 155 as an actor) and for Emmanuelle Beart whose unique beauty is unforgettable.

Film ruined by mistake in DVD transfer.......2005-08-30

I can confirm what the previous reviewer remarked, that the editors did something wrong with how they recorded subtitles on the DVD and that they are not readable on a widescreen TV on at least several types of DVD players, while the picture itself is recorded in widescreen anamorphic. The only way we could watch it with my non-French speaking wife was to set the TV to 4:3 aspect, set the DVD player as if it was pluged on a 4:3 TV and watch the movie with gray bars on the side and black bars on top and bottom. And while the anamorphic picture looked like a beautiful transfer, for some reason two players that I have tried had trouble scaling it properly to letterbox and many "venitian blinds" artifacts appeared during pans.

Subtitles Cut off on Widescreen TV?.......2004-05-25

Can anyone confirm that the 2nd line of subtitles are cut off the bottom of the screen when played on a widescreen tv? I began watching the film on my Sony 46" Widescreen and anytime a 2nd line of subtitles appeared on the screen I could only see the top of the words barely. I tried on another DVD player and it was the same. I tried all settings, (Full, Zoom, Wide-zoom, Normal) and all 4 cut the subtitles off. I ended up watching it on my 4X3 Sony 36" TV and I could read the subtitles. Anyway, good movie, just wish I could watch it on my Widescreen.

Du bien beau cinéma français.......2003-10-29

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud de Claude Sautet représente ce que le cinéma français fait de mieux. Un scénario solide et des dialogues fins et intelligents. Que dire de la réplique de Michel Serreault à Émanuelle Béart lorsque cette dernière tape le manuscrit sur un odinateur : «Ah! ces machines, ça a beaucoup de mémoire, mais pas de souvenirs!». De plus, nous ne pouvons passer sous silence le jeu des comédiens qui ont accompagné Sautet dans ce film. Je vous le conseille pour la beauté, la vérité et la force de l'amour.

Longing for Ageless Love.......2001-12-22

This is the film that I watch when I am in a decidedly Parisian mood. The lightning fast dialogue, the eloquent gestures and the few glimpses of the city conjure up that wonderful Parisian essence. The outdoor scenes are pre-wintry gray whereas the indoor scenes are softly luminous. These descriptions can also be attributed to the distinguished, older Monsieur Arnaud (a delightfully cynical but witty Michel Serrault) and the beautiful young Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart's loveliness saves her from mediocre acting abilities).

Nelly is a woman in her twenties struggling to make ends meet after being laid off from her publishing job. The fact that her husband (Charles Berling of Ridicule) is also out of work and completely demotivated allows her to entertain an offer that she would not normally accept - a substantial loan from a virtual stranger, Monsieur Arnaud. She meets Monsieur Arnaud through her elegant, older friend, Jacqueline who confides that she once had an affair with this judge turned successful businessman. Jacqueline was attracted by his ability to really listen to a woman and offer true friendship. Nelly ends up accepting Pierre Arnaud's offer to type up his memoirs, and the two develop a unique relationship as they match wits in editing his manuscript. He's alternately gruff yet admiring while she's coyly feigning nonchalance. An undeniable chemistry exists but is never physically expressed.

Monsieur Arnaud's publisher, the young, dark, somewhat smarmy Vincent is immediately attracted to Nelly. She's reluctantly drawn to him after spending an enjoyable evening with Monsieur Arnaud in one of Paris' most exclusive restaurants. Why she gets treated to this extravagant evening is a fun story in and of itself. After a dinner of remarkable fare, exceptional dessert wine (Chateau d'Yquem, 1961!) and flirtatious conversation, the desire to end the evening in intimacy results in Nelly seeking out Vincent. While Pierre Arnaud provides her with stimulating and heartfelt companionship, Vincent merely provides her with a physical outlet. Although Vincent wants more from Nelly, in her eyes, he cannot take Pierre's place.

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

The eyes of Emmanuelle Beart.......2006-12-17

Film ruined by mistake in DVD transfer.......2005-08-30

Subtitles Cut off on Widescreen TV?.......2004-05-25

Du bien beau cinéma français.......2003-10-29

Longing for Ageless Love.......2001-12-22

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