Un Coeur en Hiver
 | A Heart in WinterDirected by Claude Sautet Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, André Dussollier, Élisabeth Bourgine, Brigitte Catillon Koch Lorber Films, 1993, DVD Customer Rating: 77 reviews Recommend |
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Daniel Auteuil (Manon of the Spring) stars as Stephane, the curiously diffident co-owner of an exclusive violin brokerage and repair shop. A brilliant technician, Stephane can make any instrument live up to its promise, yet he himself is emotionally remote and disconnected from passionate experience. His partner, Maxime (André Dussollier), lacks Stephane's gifts but is rich in personality and desire. When Maxime's new lover, a violinist named Camille (Emmanuelle Béart), is drawn to Stephane's still waters, he is briefly moved, thus destroying the fragile, symbiotic relationship between all three individuals.
"Two Thumbs Up!" – Siskel & Ebert
"[it] has the intensity and delicacy of a great short story." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"superb…haunting...full of unexpected beauty, richness and feeling" – Hal Hinson, Washington Post
WINNER – César Award, Best Director
WINNER – César Award, Best Supporting Actor
WINNER – Venice Film Festival, FIPRESCI Prize
WINNER – Venice Film Festival, Silver Lion
WINNER – London Critics Circle Film Awards, Foreign Language Film of the Year
WINNER – European Film Awards, Best Actor
WINNER – David di Donatello Award, Best Foreign Actor, Best Foreign Actress
WINNER – David di Donatello Award, Best Foreign Film
WINNER – French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, Best Film
Daniel Auteuil (Manon of the Spring) plays Stephane, the curiously diffident coowner of an exclusive violin brokerage and repair shop. A brilliant technician, Stephane can make any instrument live up to its promise, yet he is emotionally remote himself, disconnected from passionate experience. His partner, Maxime (André Dussollier), lacks Stephane's gifts but is rich in personality and desire. When Maxime's new lover, a violinist named Camille (Emmanuelle Béart), is drawn to Stephane's still waters, the latter is briefly moved, thus destroying the fragile, symbiotic relationship between all three individuals. Veteran French filmmaker Claude Sautet (of the Oscar-winning César et Rosalie) has made a powerful film here expressed in the smallest of gestures, just as one might tune the strings of a violin ever-so-slightly to achieve perfection. Sautet indeed employs such a sonorous motif in this story, in which violins always seem to be playing and suggesting that the principal characters look at life as they do music: something to be tinkered with and manipulated for effect. — Tom Keogh
Title: Un Coeur en Hiver ( A Heart in Winter )
Sales Rank: 9438 in DVD
Actor: Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, André Dussollier, Élisabeth Bourgine, Brigitte Catillon
Director: Claude Sautet
Studio: Koch Lorber Films, 2006-11-07, Theatrical Release: 1993-06-04
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 1.66:1
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Original Language)
Audience Rating: Unrated
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 105 minutes
Item Dimensions: 0.2 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches, 0.18 pounds
- Simply one of the best movies ever made
- The only problem with this movie is that, if you are a string player, it is obvious that Emmanuelle Beart is not playing the violin, and that fact slightly interferes with your willing suspension of disbelief. Otherwise, if you are a musician, you know what powerful emotions music allows you to express, and also what they engender. This is the only… More reviews
- BORED TO TEARS
- My heavens, how could anyone enjoy this? I kept waiting for something to be interesting and it simply NEVER happened. I so enjoy most independent and foreign movies and this was just a bomb!… More reviews
- A chilly examination of love
- "Un Coeur en Hiver" translates into "A Heart in Winter," which is an apt title for this chilly, cerebral French film from 1992. Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette, Cache, Queen Margot) stars as an introverted unmarried man named Stephane, who repairs musical instruments in a shop owned by Maxime (played by Andre Dussollier). The two men have what appears to be an excellent working relationship… More reviews
- Third episode of an Incredible Trilogy
- "Un Coeur en Hiver" is the third episode of an incredible trilogy that began with "Jean De Florette", and then "Manon of the Spring".
In MOTS, Daniel Auteuil plays a feculent dolt who becomes obsessed with the Emmanuelle Béart character, who rejects him soundly.
In UCEH, the tables are turned as the soul of the Auteuil character… More reviews
- Sad from a Distance
- If you like Daniel Auteuil, this one will remind you that he can act. However, in spite of Un Coeur en Hiver being very sad, and very French, "A Heart in Winter" maintains an extremely from-a-distance perspective throughout the film, albeit a melancholic- with-violins -in-the-background, seemingly emotional perspective. I found it difficult, really in truth, impossible to empathize with the characters. This is not the… More reviews
