Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995)
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95% of critics liked it
(22 reviews) -
79% of users liked it
(830 ratings)
Almost a follow-up to director Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver (1992), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud further explores repressed emotions and failed relationships. Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), an attractive young woman, is six months behind in her rent and struggling with odd jobs, while her husband… More Almost a follow-up to director Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver (1992), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud further explores repressed emotions and failed relationships. Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), an attractive young woman, is six months behind in her rent and struggling with odd jobs, while her husband (Charles Berling) lies in bed reading newspapers and watching TV. Her friend Jacqueline introduces her to Pierre Arnaud (Michel Serrault), a retired judge and wealthy ex-businessman, who offers to settle Nelly's debt. She agrees and is later so disappointed by her husband's indifferent reaction that she leaves him. Arnaud asks her to be his secretary because he needs help in typing his memoirs. Though obviously attracted to her, he rarely expresses his emotions, and he suddenly erupts only when he finds out about Nelly's affair with his young publisher Vincent (Jean-Hugues Anglade). The film won Césars from the French Academy of Cinema for Best Director and Best Actor, although it lost Best Film to Mathieu Kassovitz's more innovative La haine. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Directed By
- Claude Sautet
- Written By
- Jacques Fieschi, Claude Sautet, Yves Ulmann
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Apr 12, 1996 Wide
- Studio
- New Yorker
Critic Reviews
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Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Writer-director Sautet's great achievement is to introduce a world of undefinable impulses; the two actors' great achievement is to step into that world and experience them.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
With a fine appreciation for the nuances of polite repression, Sautet makes a quiet, careful study of these two lonely people.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
It's one sign of Sautet's success that, though he presents neither character as especially admirable or exceptional, he makes us care about them a great deal.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
It is a matter of great erotic fascination when two people are intrigued by the notion of becoming lovers, but are held back by the fear of rejection _and_ the fear of involvement.
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Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Sautet avoids the pitfalls of the usual May-December romance by eschewing all the cliches.
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Cast
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Emmanuelle Béart
as Nelly
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Michel Serrault
as Pierre Arnaud
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Jean-Hugues Anglade
as Vincent Grandec
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Charles Berling
as Jerome
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Claire Nadeau
as Jacqueline
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Danièle Lebrun
as Nelly's Mother
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Michel Lonsdale
as M. Dolabella
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Michel Albertini
as Djamel
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Francoise Brion
as Lucie
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Michèle Laroque
as Isabelle
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Philippe Lelievre
as Manager of the Printers
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Jean-Pierre Lorit
as Christiphe
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Judith Vittet
as Benedicte
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Olivier Pajot
as Jean-Marc
- Emanuel Beart
