A heart in winter

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Movie
German title A heart in winter
Original title Un coeur en hiver
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1992
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Claude Sautet
script Claude Sautet , Jacques Fieschi , Jérôme Tonnerre
production Philippe Carcassonne, Jean-Louis Livi
music Maurice Ravel
camera Yves Angelo
cut Jacqueline Thiédot
occupation

Ein Herz im Winter (French: Un cœur en hiver ) is a French feature film from 1992. Directed by Claude Sautet . A triangular story is shown about two violin makers and a violinist.

content

The two friends Stéphane and Maxime run a company for violin making and repairing. The closed and withdrawn Stéphane works on the instruments, Maxime - fun-loving and extroverted - takes care of the business and the contact with the customers.

Maxime introduces his friend to his newest conquest: Camille, a beautiful violin player with a great future. Stéphane begins to be interested in Camille. And very soon she responds to his attention. It's a game of short glances performed by two great actors.

At the height of the "relationship" the two sit across from each other in a café. Camille asks Stéphane about himself. Her face is wide open, and the withdrawn Stéphane reluctantly provides information.

From now on he withdraws. It doesn't explain why he backs away, but that behavior is the real theme of the film. Director Claude Sautet: “Stéphane suffers from a pathological limitation that I have overcome in life only thanks to the cinema. I have noticed the existence of such a shadow zone in many men, the need to protect oneself from feminine impulsiveness. I'm just trying to tell how hard it is to become a man. I would have preferred to be a woman myself. It is certainly not easy to tell a story that is so close to you. But I wanted to get to the bottom of this being, which is completely closed in to find its peace. Even at the cost of burning humiliation. "

Camille tries increasingly desperately to win him over. At the end of a drive, she explains: "I want you, that's the way it is. I know who you are and I accept you that way." Stéphane rejects her again and explains that he only wanted to seduce her to play in order to hurt Maxime.

There is a scene - again in the café. Camille returns to Maxime deeply hurt.

Maxime hadn't wanted to stand in his friend's way. But he resents Stéphane's injury to Camille. The friendship between the two violin makers has broken up and the business has broken up.

When Stéphane, who has actually always felt drawn to Camille, now visits the violinist and tries to explain that he is desperate for himself, Camille remains cool and dismissive. Stéphane missed it.

Meanwhile, old Lachaume, a long-time friend of the two violin makers, also dies. For Stéphane in particular, he was something of a mentor and fatherly friend. And his good friend, the bookseller Hélène, moves to the provinces to get married. It becomes increasingly lonely around Stéphane.

Months later: Stéphane and Maxime are in contact again, superficial and friendly. For a few minutes, Stéphane sits alone at the table with Maxime's partner Camille, where short friendly words are exchanged. When Camille drives away with Maxime, she throws Stéphane a look from the car.

Reviews

The film-dienst celebrated Sautet's film in its contemporary criticism as "an extremely rigorously composed, elegantly and sensitively told emotional drama about the 'unlived passion' of a closed loner" . The film is "thanks to excellent actors and the brilliantly used music by Maurice Ravel an incredibly dense cinema experience, characterized by quiet melancholy."

Awards (selection)

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ cf. Lexicon of International Films 2000/2001 (CD-ROM)