Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (1995)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Better Late Then Never

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A lot of fun.

I watched my first Claude Sautet film two nights ago. It was titled Cesar and Rosalie.My response was intense. In fact, intense doesn't even cover it. Make that uber intense. Cesar and Rosalie was absolute perfection. I had never seen anything quite like that on the screen before and was left completely infatuated with Claude Sautet. Mr. Sautet had somehow worked himself into my very biochemistry because my enchantment demanded to be fed. I had to see another Claude Sautet film as soon as possible.Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud was the one I got a hold of. All day long I looked forward to seeing it. I couldn't wait. But, alas...Oh, well. It was so lovely having Mr. Sautet up there on a pedestal. Even if only for a short while. But now I realize he was a fellow human. Sigh. A wonderful filmmaker yes, but human and thus inevitably flawed.I was disappointed in this film -- Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud. Most especially with the casting. Sorry, but NONE of the men were sympatico. Neither in their physical presence nor in their personalities. At least not in my opinion. And that sucked a lot of vitality right out of the film.Michel Serrault did not have a scintilla of masculine appeal. I never bought that Beart was in the least attracted to him. Merely using him as a distraction from the pain of her divorce instead.I thought it was kind of interesting that the actor who played the editor with whom Beart became romantically involved bore a physical resemblance to Serrault. In fact, he very much looked like what Michel Serrault might have looked like back when he was a young man with dark hair himself.I think Sautet may have fashioned the resemblance deliberately. Why? I don't know.The actor who played Beart's husband was also physically completely nondesript. Or at least presented as such.Again, all of this served to rob the film of true romantic tension and, therefore, made it difficult to really buy into the story line.But it was still a wonderful film, of course. Full of complexity, witty and intriguing dialogue and well worth watching. Just not perfect. JMO.

Exquisite movie. Sautet's a director who builds up his films moment by moment without you realizing the full extent of the feelings involved, usually until the very end. And he doesn't do it with the typical Hollywood flash. He allows you to realize things yourself. This movie of his is no exception. Sautet, through his characters and his directorial realization of the scripted story, is someone who sees above the pettiness of the everyday world.If you haven't genuine love and understanding in your life, you have something considerably less. Late in his life, Monsieur Arnaud, one of the title characters, finally gets it and through his relationship with Nelly (and others) allow us, the audience, to do so also, definitely by the end of this story. 4 aces, five stars, 10 votes, whatever, this is a must-see, especially for Sautet fans who've seen and like his other works.

This is worth seeing if you have the patience for a movie without much plot - just unexpressed feelings that lie beneath the surface. I truly think most will feel "Huh? What's supposed to be happening? NOTHING is happening here! When the hell does this thing get going?" and yet I can understand that some will be moved.In truth, things do happen but since you never see anyone (particularly Beart as the lead character, "Nelly") express emotion, it's very very dry. *** Spoilers***The portrayal of Beart informing her husband of many years that she is leaving him, seems not to be happening between human beings. There is SO little shown, SO little said. "Ah, oui?" is about it. This is difficult to watch - I'm sure many will see "ah, but what lies underneath, what extraordinary history is revealed by th flicker of their eyelashes", but I like to see drama expressed.The same occurs when her boyfriend merely mentions a new apartment he has looked at. It only dawns later that the fact that the home contains three rooms is meant to convey to the audience a request that she (after a mere month or two of dating) move in with him. When she says she likes the current situation, he says they can no longer see each other. No emotions shown - she leaves. The scene has all the emotional trauma of a DEVO performance.*** Yet all that said, the characters themselves are people I'd like to have known better. Put a plot together and this would be an interesting movie. As it is, it's quite boring.

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