Search - Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud

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, All Movie Guide

Emmanuelle Béart - Nelly
Michel Serrault - Pierre Arnaud
Jean-Hugues Anglade - Vincent Grandec
Charles Berling - Jerome
Claire Nadeau - Jacqueline
Danièle Lebrun - Nelly's Mother

1995	Best Director (winner)	French Academy of Cinema	Claude Sautet
1995	Best Actor (winner)	French Academy of Cinema	Michel Serrault

For a foreign-language film, the bittersweet, subtle, and romantic Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud receives a better-than-average DVD release from New Yorker Video. There are a few negligible disc extras (trailer, photo gallery, cast, and directory profiles) that will be viewed once or twice, but the DVD does a very good job of bringing the movie to the small screen. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is excellent and showcases Jean-François Robin's (Betty Blue, On Guard!) sumptuous cinematography beautifully. Likewise, the Dolby Digital audio track is well balanced coming out of a TV speaker or home stereo system. The disc also handles the removable English language subtitles very well -- they come in a shade of yellow that can be read at all times and they don't interfere with the detailed images. The final film of writer/director Claude Sautet, this leisurely movie also displays a deceptive sense of humor and merits repeated home viewings. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide

These movies share cast/crew with Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud...
1	Un Coeur en Hiver
S	Cesar and Rosalie (R)
1	Classe Tous Risques [Criterion Collection] (NR)
2	Jean-Luc Godard Box Set
1	Place Vendome (NR)
These movies are similar to Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud...
S	All the Vermeers in New York (NR)
1	Un Coeur en Hiver
S	La Belle Noiseuse
4	Red (R)