Cesar & Rosalie [DVD] [1972]

This love triangle film is outstanding for the way it is played by the three leads, and manages to generate a lot of feeling for the characters. Yves Montand in particular draws sympathy where you wouldn't expect him to - the character is in many ways quite oafish and certainly not subtle, tends to violence and petty racing against other car drivers that almost leads to a crash, none of which gives him pause unduly. But something about his expression - the eye movements in particular - points to the rather insecure character behind all this, the man who clearly feels inferior to his partner's lover, whom she knew before him. This part is also very well taken by Sami Frey, who is much closer to the director's perspective, while being younger and more refined than his rival. He never falls into any sense of superiority, in fact he is very honorable, while Romy Schneider as Rosalie is radiant and somehow avoids audience judgement, largely through the skill of the plot, as well as her own unique screen presence. The camera really loved her, you feel, capturing her breathtaking, totally un-pindownable beauty and also, in close-up, a remarkably fine-tuned expressiveness and warmth. It's as though the whole screen is filled with expression at these moments, but it feels utterly spontaneous. It's fascinating the way she sparked the French imagination when she was not even French ... apparently she regularly tops polls as the most popular actress of all time in France, although in Britain she is relatively unknown. Claude Sautet seems to have been inspired to make some very good films with her - as he was more recently with Emmanuelle Beart - and one can only hope that Les Choses de la vie and Une Histoire Simple may be released here as well. My only reservation with the film is a slight lack of vision in comparison with, say, Jules et Jim, which it so closely resembles. This is a fine chamber piece, but it doesn't quite have the poetry of Truffaut's film, nor does it quite justify the depth of friendship between the two men that is meant to underpin it in the later stages. Truffaut did this more effectively by having the two men know each other first. But perhaps comparison is invidious, because while it doesn't reach those heights it is very enjoyable and the three performances are cherishable.

Cesar et Rosalie is from the days when Claude Sautet still set his films in a wider world before retreating into chamber pieces set in enclosed universes (the bookshop of  A Bad Son ( Un mauvais fils ) [ English subtitles ] [DVD ], the apartment of  Nelly Et Monsieur Arnaud [VHS ], the hotel room and junkyard of  MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS ). Here he's still embracing a wider canvas of characters and everyday locations, with a strong visual sense of location (the long grass of a field is beautiful), and it gives this romantic trifle a breath of fresh air and life that the material doesn't always deserve. But what really makes the film work is Yves Montand's outstanding performance, one of his very best, turning what could easily have been a larger than life stereotype into something flesh and blood and all too believable as everything he tries to prevent lover Romy Schneider (also excellent here) from returning of Sami Frey only drives her into his arms. There's a real vulnerability beneath the bravado: his reactions in the scene where Frey casually tells him he still loves Schneider are an amazing mix of conflicting emotions he can't quite hide.The film paints itself into a corner by the end, with a particularly unsatisfying conclusion that would probably have worked a little better had the film ended a minute earlier, but it's still a surprisingly vital little movie.The Region 1 NTSC DVD offers an acceptable but not outstanding widescreen transfer. The only extras are trailers for The Last Metro, Stolen Kisses and Z. Despite their penchent for tiny English subtitles, Studio Canal's Blu-ray release offers a significant improvement and includes a making of featurette, Serenade for Three.

Be careful if you buy this you might another receive copy of the movie. It says subtitles in English in product details, but there aren't any.

This one didn't impress me at all. I didn't like to see an unbelievably stupid and weak Yves Montand fight with like Apache Indian looking, proud and cool Sami Frey over a self-centered, self-satisfied, always right and all the film smiling "forgivingly" at the stupidities being done for her, Romy Schneider. The Yves Montand acting is fantastic, but it couldn't alone pull out a foolish scenario and save the movie.Claude Sautet has made much more successive films troughout his career.