Claire’s Knee
Le Genou de Claire
France • 1970
Director
#347Criterion Collection →Synopsis
“Why would I tie myself to one woman?” asks Jerôme in CLAIRE’S KNEE, though he plans to marry a diplomat’s daughter by summer’s end. He spends his July at a lakeside boardinghouse, nursing crushes on the sixteen-year-old Laura and, more tantalizingly, her long-legged, blonde, older half sister, Claire. Baring her knee on a ladder under a blooming cherry tree, Claire unwittingly incites a moral crisis for Jerôme while creating an image that is both the iconic emblem of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales and one of French cinema’s most enduring moments.
Synopsis
“Why would I tie myself to one woman?” asks Jerôme in CLAIRE’S KNEE, though he plans to marry a diplomat’s daughter by summer’s end. He spends his July at a lakeside boardinghouse, nursing crushes on the sixteen-year-old Laura and, more tantalizingly, her long-legged, blonde, older half sister, Claire. Baring her knee on a ladder under a blooming cherry tree, Claire unwittingly incites a moral crisis for Jerôme while creating an image that is both the iconic emblem of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales and one of French cinema’s most enduring moments.
Part of Box Set
Credits
Crew
DirectorÉric Rohmer
WriterÉric Rohmer
CinematographerNéstor Almendros
EditorCécile Decugis
ProducerBarbet Schroeder, Pierre Cottrell
Cast
Jean-Claude Brialyas Jérôme
Aurora Cornuas Aurora, the novelist
Béatrice Romandas Laura
Laurence de Monaghanas Claire