Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B
Emmanuelle Beart is Nelly, a young woman tired of her
marriage, when she meets an older man who wants her to fix-up his book
transcript in Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995), a Claude Sautet film
that subtly looks at happiness and the ways in which we do and do not find it.
M. Arnaud (Michel Serrault) is getting older, is trying to
finish this book, while getting rid of the many he has collected over the
years. He does not seem to have any
regrets, and makes a sudden, reasonable offer to hire Nelly immediately upon
meting her. She is not too offended or
taken aback, especially since he is a gentleman, so she accepts and gets to
work. As soon as she deposits his
10,000 Francs (remember them?), she immediately announces her divorce plans to
her husband. He is not abusive, but
things have reached a sort of stagnation.
When she finally gets to work, she begins to meet Arnaud’s
friends, including his ex-wife and an odd old friend of his. He is played with great eccentricity by
Michel Lonsdale (The Bride Wore Black, Ronin, Moonraker),
while Nelly still deals with the people in her world. Much of that world is that of publishing in the first place,
where she works at a local publication.
This is a serious, mature film with some contextual humor that works
more often than it does not. Sautet
co-wrote the screenplay with Jacques Fieschi and Yves Ullmann, which is well
paced, matching the film’s direction.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is not bad, with a decent
color balance for a non-anamorphic transfer.
Jean-Francois Robin’s cinematography adds greatly to the atmosphere of
the film. I like the look and it helps
forward the story. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo surround was issued in the old Dolby-A analog format theatrically
and it sounds it. Though acceptable for
its time, it is hardly as rich as today’s soundtracks, even for subtle films,
but this is a subtle film and it works just fine. You also get a photo gallery, cast & director profiles, and
trailers to several New Yorker DVDs, including this film.
At the same time, Beart would be the female lead in the
first Mission: Impossible film with Tom Cruise, her first English
film. Despite the mega-hit status of
the film, she did not come back to the U.S. for anything more major, which is a
shame. Beart has great appeal and the
camera likes her in an interesting way, though I need to see more of her films
to explain. Though not a total success,
this is a smart, adult film that understands relationships enough, that you
should catch it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
