This is another of the Six Moral Tales. Once again, a man mulls over his moral being. As is the case with most of the Rohmer protagonists, he has this incredibly inflated view of his prowess and his command over women. The director, however, is there to teach him a lesson. The two young women he encounters (my American judgment sort of causes me to get the creeps) are teenagers and he really has some inappropriate contact with them. Now, they don't act and he doesn't act. He does kiss one of them. Claire is a beautiful young woman who is being dominated by a handsome young man. While she is climbing a ladder, Jerome, our hero, notices her knee. He becomes fixated on it. He talks to Aurora, a female friend (who allows him an awful lot of freedom with these kids),about how women always have something that makes them stand out. In Claire's case, he thinks it is her knee. He feels his lust, if you will, will be satisfied if he can just touch the knee. I can't offer some of the insights that others have given us, but, suffice it to say, the last couple minutes speaks volumes concerning who is in charge in this film.

Technically, this was a very good movie. The cinematography was beautiful and breathtaking--the setting really enhanced the film. Plus the acting was very good--no complaints there.

However, the story itself felt very creepy and disturbed me. A 35 year-old guy meets an old lady friend and becomes close to the family that this lady friend rents a room from. The mother seems about 35 or so and she has a daughter that appears about 13 or so--maybe 14. There is also a step-daughter who looks about 16. Through much of the film, this man seems awfully familiar with the girls--going so far as kissing the youngest on the lips passionately and rubbing his dirty paws all over the knees of the older girl, Claire. The movie's title, by the way, was chosen because this guy turns out to be a "knee freak" and he is turned on by this teen's knees. This is all orchestrated by the old lady friend, who to me seems like she's encouraging this. THIS IS WAY TOO CREEPY for me and I am amazed that NONE of the comments so far mention the inappropriateness of this weirdo. Yuck.

The first Éric Rohmer movie that I saw was "The Marquise of O...", which I watched because I had read the novel in a German literature course in college. I've finally gotten around to watching another one. "Le genou de Claire" ("Claire's Knee" in English) is part of his morality series, focusing on married (or about to get married) men tempted by other women. John Wakeman called these movies "subtle psychological investigations about what characters think about their behavior than about their behavior itself". In this case, career diplomat Jérôme (Jean-Claude Brialy) finds himself attracted to the daughter of an old friend.

It's a slow-moving film, but deliberately so. It takes time for the characters to develop. It adds up to a profound, intellectually stimulating story. While slow-moving, it turns out interesting (which is more than anyone can say for the empty, pointless movies that Terrence Malick has turned out in the 21st century).

Definitely one that I recommend.