Two Films by Claude Sautet, featuring Romy Schneider
After working as an assistant director in the 1950s, Claude Sautet emerged out of the New Wave to become one of the most influential French directors of the 1970s, largely as a result of his memorable films starring the internationally-famous actress Romy Schneider, whose own career was revived through their collaborations.
In Les Choses de la vie (1970) and César et Rosalie (1972) – featuring Schneider paired with leading men Michel Piccoli and Yves Montand respectfully – Sautet creates, along with screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie and cinematographer Jean Boffety, two haunting yet romantic films that embody the struggles and privileges of the rising middle class in late-20th century France.
Cast
- Romy Schneider
- Michel Piccoli
- Yves Montand
Blu-ray Features
César et Rosalie documentary, Serenade for Three
Les Choses de la vie documentary, Symphonie métallique
16-page booklet with new essay by author David N Meyer
Discs: 2
DVD Features
César et Rosalie documentary, Serenade for Three
Les Choses de la vie documentary, Symphonie métallique
16-page booklet with new essay by author David N Meyer
Discs: 2
- "... it presents not one but two unusually good performances: by Montand, as a scrap-metal dealer with international connections, and by Romy Schneider as the woman who loves him sometimes and lives with him sometimes, not always at the same sometimes. [W]e’ve had a good time and enjoyed... the way Romy Schneider can make a half-shy smile into the suggestion of unimaginable carnal possibilities."
- "Featuring another expressive, vibrant score from Philippe Sarde, opening the film with a beat promising the tone of a thriller, as well as Jean Boffety’s (The Things of Life; Je t’aime je t’aime) articulate framing (featuring plenty of handsome close-ups, particularly of Schneider in her custom made Yves Saint Laurent wardrobe), Cesar and Rosalie stays adamantly, wonderfully true to its complexities."
- "Romy Schneider... has never been more calmly beautiful."
- "Sautet and his frequent writing partner, Jean-Loup Dabadie, were masters of the intricately triangulated menage-a-trois, as in the delightful “Cesar and Rosalie” (1972), where bohemian cartoonist Sami Frey and wealthy businessman Yves Montand become unlikely BFFs while competing for the see-sawing affections of their mutual mistress (Schneider)."
- "...a beautifully understated performance from Piccoli which manages to extract a whole lifetime of meaning from a simple gesture like lighting a cigarette, and to illuminate the film's meticulously detailed naturalistic surface."
- "...a remarkable portrait of the compromises of marriage and the fickle stirrings of the human heart, structured as an intricate narrative jigsaw: “Gone Girl” avant la lettre."
- "Should be considered a high priority for cinephiles."
- " ...it is Sautet’s work on Les Choses de la vie that helps change the French cinematographic landscape definitively."
- "Both films look and sound great and include excellent supplements. Two excellent, fairly hard-to-see French films boasting superb acting, screenplays and direction by Claude Sautet, this set is a DVD Talk Collectors Series title."
Awards & Recognition
Best Foreign Actor
David di Donatello Awards
Palme d'Or
Cannes Film Festival
Prix Louis Delluc
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