This movie, best known by its French title of Un Coeur en Hiver, is a delicate study of complex emotional ties that develop within a never-consummated but deeply-felt menage-en-trois.
Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) and Maxime (André Dussollier) have worked together for years as business-partners in a prestigious violin-repairing business -- Strads and Guarnerius our specialities.
Maxime has started an affair with the brilliant, and exquisitely beautiful violinist Camille (Emmanuelle Beart). While he dallies with her, Stephane is content to live as he always has -- sleeping in the business factory, working all hours, having 'close' friends who remain strictly on the platonic level.
But he is attracted to Camille, and becomes determined to win her from his partner Maxime. But when Camille returns his signs of interest and in fact starts becoming obsessed with Stephane, it's another matter. Stephane rejects her brutally and coldly. But we are left to wonder whether he is really rejecting her, or is denying signs that a far-off, distant part of his wintery heart that might just be wakening.
To say more would rob the movie of its intensely realistic and very delicate conclusion. Enough to say that there's no Hollywood concocted ending here ... the film's final scene is utterly realistic, leaving a faintly-gleaming ray of hope to illuminate the hope that Stephane's winter may one day draw to a close.
This 1992 movie was the late Sautet's penultimate movie, and he draws some wonderful performances from all his actors, especially from Daniel Auteil, whose character is deep and complex, and not at all the cold automata some might suspect. It's interesting that the scene which predominantly gives hope that there might be a capacity for love still within this heart-in-winter is not in fact between Stephane and Camille --it's between Stephane and his old and ailing former violin-teacher, who Stephane must assist to a gentle death.
A highlight of the movie is the wonderful soundtrack, featuring the music of Ravel, as Camille and two colleagues rehearse and record Ravel's 1915 Trio for violin, cello and piano. Emmanuelle Beart in fact learnt violin for this movie so she could appear to play convingly. What we actually hear is a performance by one of my favourite violinists, Jean-Jaques Kantorow.
This late movie by Sautet continued his mature-period exploration of personality and emotion. Interesting that he started out in the gangster-genre, with his first flick, in 1960, being a French gangster movie The Big Risk, while his most famous movie outside of France would be his wonderful gangster epic from 1970, Borsalino.
The transfer is widescreen anamorphic featuring almost no artefacts and notable for a complete absence of moire patterns on some very demanding details, such as finely checked tweed jackets. Colours are dense and luscious.
The stereo soundtrack is adequate, and both Ravel's music and dialogue emerge clear -- though we're left wondering just how well the Ravel music could have been treated if the soundtrack had been augmented to the highest degree.
There are no extras as such, apart from a gaggle of theatrical trailers for other present and future Aspect DVD releases -- 'Persona', 'Scenes from a Marriage', 'Fallen Angels', 'Criminal Lovers', 'La Belle Noiseuse', 'Fanny and Alexander' and 'Short Films of Francois Ozon'.