User reviews

I think it is an engaging and thoughtful movie - the kind that you keep thinking about, long after you have finished watching.

The plot deals with the central character's coldness in relationships with people around him. He is definitely gifted in what he does. He is sincere and hardworking. People around him tend to be friendly and caring. But it seems our guy has some intimacy issues – he can't go beyond a certain level.

I am not really sure as to what message did the movie want to convey. It can't just be - if you are cold in nature, you are a loser. I don't think Stéphane was cold by choice – he couldn't just change his nature so as to make others happy. I found it odd that a person of such nature would speak with frankness and openness about these issues – the way Stéphane tells Camille in the restaurant. His friendship with Hélène also seems unexplained - what was the basis – did they expect it to go further?

What struck as peculiar was attention given to details on mundane activities - like the craftsmanship involved in making musical instruments or dealing with the restaurant manager. In some ways, these elements helped in keeping one occupied and expectant of things to come.

Daniel Auteuil's portrayal of Stéphane was very natural. Always immaculately dressed, the way he interacted, sometimes with a smirk on his face - it made you empathize with his character. Also at times you felt like saying - what's wrong with this guy? – probably the kind of response director would have wanted to evoke from the audience. Emmanuelle Béart has acted brilliantly and looks amazingly beautiful. André Dussollier also put in a strong performance in his portrayal of Maxime.

Dialogues are thoughtful - but at times their gravity made you feel that these are not the most natural of conversations. Cinematography is splendid – with close shots of characters and focus on eye and facial expressions.

English film critics, especially those at a loss for what else to write, often refer to films such as this as 'very French'. This certainly holds true in so far as French cinema is mainly concerned with character rather than plot.

Claude Sautet was a respected 'script doctor' before his breakthrough film 'Les Choses de ma Vie' which not only put him on the map but made an international star of Michel Piccoli and revitalised the career of Romy Schneider. He went from stength to strength and made his last film 'Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud' in 1995 starring Michel Serrault and Emmanuelle Beart.

'A Heart in Winter' is his penultimate film and is as one would expect from Sautet, a piece both beautifully written and constructed. Sautet has here collaborated on the script with Jacques Fieschi loosely based on the novella 'Princess Mary' by Lermontov. The plot is easily told. Camille, Maxime and Stéphane move within the cloistered world of classical music. Camille is having an affair with Maxime but falls for Stéphane and is devastated by his refusal to respond. Emmanuelle Béart as Camille convinces totally as a professional musician and took violin lessons for a year to prepare for the role. She was of course destined to be underrated as an actress because of her beauty. To describe the Stéphane of Daniel Auteuil as 'enigmatic' would be an understatement. A woman might very well be attracted to elusiveness in a man but there is a limit to her patience. That Auteuil and Bart were romantically involved at the time brings a definite piquancy to the film. As Maxime André Dussollier is splendid and the supporting players uniformly excellent. The cinematography of Yves Angelo is stunning and the use of Ravel's music inspired. Sautet was one of the last true craftsmen of French cinema and if as some say this film is a little cold then it is the coldness of a polished gem.

Brother, can you spare a heart?

In Un Coeur en Hiver, the late Claude Sautet looks into the heart of Stephane, a master violin craftsman (Daniel Auteuil), and finds only ice. Stephane is an observer of life, not a participant. The film reveals the consequences of his emotional isolation, of what he has to give up in order to maintain his solitude.

Un Coeur en Hiver is as far from a typical Hollywood romance as Casablanca is from L'Avventura. The film is almost a revisionist portrayal of the usual debonair French romantic lover. While the lovely sonatas and trios of Maurice Ravel form a haunting background, there is a lifeless quality to Stephane and ennui is a palpable presence throughout.

Stephane seems ready to leap into a passionate relationship with a beautiful young violinist, Camille (Emmanuelle Beart) after Maxim, his partner for many years (also in love with Camille), introduces her to Stephane. Stephane, however, is unable to relate to Maxim's friendship or to his growing attraction to Camille and becomes distant and manipulative.

Held back by his reluctance to take risks, his relationship with Camille provides him with the forms of intimacy but without the substance. No pat psychological interpretation is provided but is left to the viewer to interpret. The camera is reserved and intimate. For the most part, emotions are conveyed through glances, expressions, and silences rather than dialogue.

The scene where Camille finally explodes out of frustration over Stephane's emotional distance, however, is powerful, yet is not enough to shake the reluctant lover from his hiding place. At a restaurant, Camille tells Stephanie, "He says he likes music because "music is dreams". "Poor jerk", she blurts out, "You know nothing about dreams". Pointing to his heart, she says, "There is nothing in there, nothing. No imagination, no heart, no balls". Stephane simply sits there with a half grin on his face. I could really feel Camille's frustration in trying to pluck fruit from a barren tree.

Auteuil's outstanding performance makes him a likable figure, a really sweet guy but a very sad one. I felt repeatedly like shaking him from his lethargy and exposing him to joy and the rhythmic beauty of life, perhaps adding a little Mozart to his Ravel.

At the end, however, there is some character development. Stephane finally recognizes that "there is something lifeless inside of me." As his friends depart, he is left sitting alone at a restaurant table, poignantly feeling his loneliness. Perhaps this insight is the beginning of his transformation. A very sad film but beautifully realized.

If you are after car chasings and unreal fight/action scenes, don't even consider reading further and even less watching this movie.

This movie is about human psychology and love. These characters are tormented by a feeling of inadequacy, by strong unresolved love, and deep affection. It's a modern greek tragedy. It reminds us of the real human nature, unlinear, never simple. Forget the white/black type of hollywood movies. The real world is not like that. We are not just good, we are not just bad, we can be strong and weak at the same time. This movie manages to remind us this in the context of a difficult love story accompanied by one of the most beautiful scores ever.

The whole movie seems to have been written and built around this sad, unusual and beautiful music by Ravel (piano sonata for trio).

If you are an intelligent person you'll love the poetry and soft touch of this movie.

Un Coeur En Hiver is a deeply moving film. Beart's achingly beautiful performance as a violinist who becomes infatuated with an emotionally stunted craftsman, is breathtaking to behold. The craftsman, played by Auteuil, displays an almost unbelievable emptiness of emotion, as he rejects the "unrejectable" Camile(Beart)! The soundtrack of this movie conveys as much emotion as the lead characters do, and is hauntingly beautiful to the ear. This movie is a must for Beart fans! Just seeing those beautiful intense eyes is reason enough to view this film.

Claude Sautet was the master of the small psychological movie. "Un coeur en hiver" is one of his best. Two friends are in the business of reparing violins. One (Stéphane, played by Daniel Auteuil) is the craftsman (introverted), the other (Maxime, played by André Dussollier) is the businessman (extrovert). One day a well known, and very beautiful, concert violinist (Camille played by Emmanuelle Béart) enlists their help. It would be the natural order of things when Stéphane took care of the violin and Maxime handled the relation with the client.

Camille however makes a mess of this "natural order of things", because she is more interested in Stéphane. Sautet shows us in a very clever way the effect that Camille has on the relationship between the two friends.

Superficially the film is about a "menage a trois" but the strong point is that this "menage a trois" is psychologically a very complicated one. Yes both men are in in love with the same woman, and normally you would expect a big fight about her. This fight however, only gets off the ground half-heartedly because one man feels more comfortable hiding behind his technical skills and considers the other man's social skills as his safety shield against the rest of the world.

This is a haunting film...in its visual beauty, in its performances and certainly in the sensitive direction of Claude Sautet. Auteuil and Beart are perfectly cast. It's a unique theme...in that a beautiful woman obsessed with a man cannot arouse any real passion or interest in him..because as the title implies, his heart is frozen. What I found particularly moving was how both Auteuil's portayal and the script itself made him, for me, a sympathetic figure...I felt I could understand him and feel his inner angst (for whatever psychological reason).

Beart too gave her characterization a depth and a reality that made me not only believe in her plight, but remember when I had some of those same feelings. The violin playing and exquisite music also added a lovely melancholy touch. For me, this was Sautet's masterpiece. Wish he were still with us to give the world more of his talent.

"Winter Heart" is a character study which examines what happens when a beautiful violinist falls in love with a violin maker who is devoid of the passion and emotion which is so much a part of French film and life in general. The antithesis of almost everything Hollywood represents as it does not depict the presence of things but the absence of things, "Un Coeur un Hiver" is more interesting than entertaining and will intrigue some and bore the socks off others. A smart film for smart people but placid waters for popcorn flick surfers.

Marvelous actors. Wonderful music. Subtle dialogues. A true masterpiece with 2 (may be 3 with Andre Dussolier) outstanding performances by Emmanuelle Beart et Daniel Auteuil. Finally a credible analysis of love - meaning not the stupid usual fare from Hollywood - with all its meanders, its non-linearities.

Part of my all times top 10 list.

Note : you need to watch it at least 3 times to grasp all the subtleties, the finesse of the dialogues. Also as so often the case with French movies the ending is open to the viewer's interpretation which makes the movie that more moving and special.

Note 2 : Fans of Hollywood type action movies please abstain.

I spent a while thinking of what to write about this bizarre movie. I am a fan of both Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Beart (who, I believe, are married in real life), and their performances in this film are strong and are not what disappointed me.

I believe that this film was intended to be a psychological drama about the love between Auteuil's and Beart's characters. However, the problem is that absolutely no progression was made from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie. We (and they) end up in exactly the same place, leaving the viewer asking in the final scene, "That was it??" The ramifications of their relationship, if you can call it that, do not even compel these characters to make changes in their own lives.

Maybe being an American has made me accustomed to films where there is a happy ending and the romance wins out in the end. But this movie, if a depiction of what happens in real life and not just American films where the guy gets the girl in the end, is deeply disturbing and a sad commentary on the nature of the human condition. These characters really saddened me -- Auteuil's, because he is the one with the cold heart, and Beart because she seems to accept anguish and just go back to what she was doing as though nothing had happened. The viewers are left with many unanswered questions because we are not allowed to get to know the characters well enough to understand why they made some of the choices they did and why they said some of the things that they said.

If you want to be depressed, and watch an hour and a half of anguish, then this is a good choice for you. I gave this movie a 7 because most aspects of the movie (acting, music, etc.) were superb, I guess the ending just was not what I expected.

An interesting note -- I believe that Emmanuelle actually learned to play the violin (and very well, I might add) for this role. Quite impressive!

The only things worth watching and hearing in this French film are Emmanuelle Beart's face and some of Ravel's violin music, respectively.

Otherwise, this is an incredibly boring movie; a very long, drawn out soap opera. It's nothing but people yakking away. The fact national critics rave about this movie is mind-boggling.

The film has little offer, even sleaze, which critics love. For those looking at the cover of the DVD box or VHS tape and thinking this might be some kind of erotic French film, forget it. There is no sex nor certainly anything erotic Unfortunately, this is very little worthy of anyone's attention.

The plot revolves around the 'love triangle' of Camille, Stephan, and Maxine. Camille is a young up and coming concert violinist, and Stephan and Maxine are violin craftsmen. Camille is one of their many clients. The main character of this film, Stephan--played by Daniel Auteuil--is brilliant. He is a good looking and quiet man who knows what he wants and is secure in this: solitude--regardless of the amorous advances of Camille, the beautiful and brilliant young violinist who winds up dating his business partner Maxime, and whom he could seduce very easily. Many people analyzing Stephan's character would immediately say that he is sociopathic, deranged, insecure, or whatever. But Stephan is actually fully in control of his life throughout the whole film. He is not aware of fleeting passions like infatuation because he does not exist outside of passion: He is passion incarnate as he is very in tune with what he wants and is skillful at asserting his desires; so much so that those who encounter him become very jarred. His personna functions as a mirror that reflects other people's neuroses and fears back at them instead of absorbing them into itself and thus becoming poisoned. In this way, he's almost like a freelance mobile psychoanalyst passing through different bistros and concert halls in Paris, and disrupting the otherwise 'normal' relationships of those he encounters. The psychological tension throughout the film is thick from the start, and reaches a point of absolute saturation at its apogee. The viewer cannot help but find himself emotionally invested in the plot. The background score of the film is beautiful.

a beautiful, beautiful movie without sentimentality, but with great music and wonderful depths of feeling by the actors. Highly recommended, especially for Auteil, and Beart, who has never looked more stunning. I don't see why I should have to write more than this, since brevity is the soul of wit-as one English wag once said, even though I'm not trying to be witty. However, I'll do what it takes to convince you that you should see this film if you like French film or just film in general. The movie reverses the stereotypical Hollywood gender clichés and, in so doing, invigorates the entire genre of the tragic romance.

Beautiful violin virtuoso Camille has two obsessions: the music of Ravel, and a friend of her husband's who crafts violins. But his heart seems to be as cold as her playing is passionate.

The film contains only excerpts of Ravel compositions, but the soundtrack album includes them in their entirety, performed by Jean-Jacques Kantorow (violin), Philippe Muller (cello) and Jacques Rouvier (piano). A fourth Ravel composition not excerpted in the film, "Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure", is on the soundtrack album. The film helped further popularize especially Ravel's Piano Trio.

Say what you will about this film. Good or bad, it really does a great job presenting the music. Did the actors play the instruments? Probably not. But the use of Ravel is ell executed, and no matter what else, that makes this a good movie.

not too much i can say, either you'll love it or you'll be frustrated.there is no use telling the story.

if you love it you will know why, probably because it strikes a chord in you and you can relate to one of the characters or situations.

if you hate it, well, i can think about worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

I loved it and I watch it over and over.

Auteuil and Beart really shine, and the film is neatly done. You'll be surprised to learn there is more to Ravel than Bolero.

Too bad the DVD is not available in region 1 and the tape is poor quality( btw, the cover is deceiving,definitely commercial, there is no flesh in the movie and there is no need for any).

This film had a great impact on me. I found it very touching and emotionally involving. The violinist was passionate and compelling (E. Beart) and the violin maker was withdrawn and afraid of his passions. He had stopped playing the violin because he didn't like the sound of his own music...the music of his heart. He has a thousand reasons not to follow his heart and be with this woman, but none of them make any sense. I found a lot of myself in his character.

This finely tuned drama about a love triangle that never really begins has a slender story, but also well-observed character studies and beautiful performances (including an underrated one by the witty, approachable Elizabeth Bourgine). It's perfection on a minor scale. **1/2 out of 4.

This is one of the most accomplished movies I ever seen. Brilliant dialogs, wonderful acting, moving music, a perfect mix of sobriety, passion, psychological violence and reserve.

At the heart of the movie, the character of Stephane is an enigma for the other characters and for the viewer. Who is he? What does he wants? Sautet doesn't embrace any psychological analysis for him: he could be neurotic, or a closet narcissist, or a perfect normal person. The director is very subtle in providing the viewer with plenty of little details about him, but refraining from pointing the finger at a single explanation. Still, the character is incredibly life-like and we comes to see him as it was a real person. It is worth noting that, although he wrote completely original stories, Sautet used to use real life, identifiable individuals as models for his characters.

I've seen Un coeur en hiver many times, but still each time I discover something new. Arguably the best Sautet movie and one of the best movies ever.

Stares, glances, unspoken words, non-fatal attraction .. Some might feel dizzy or fall asleep, .. in front of such hidden powerful feelings and lack of action.. But the beauty of the violin and Emmanuelle!

Dull man meets dull violinist through her dull lover (who is his working partner). Coffee is drunk, terrible music is played interminably. Violinist is seduced by dull man's line in dull repartee, only to be told that he doesn't actually love her. Her lover slaps him in the face and terminates their working relationship. Dull man helps his old college tutor die. Everyone parts amicably. The end.

The French are usually quite good at making films about nothing. Much as I adore Emmanuelle Beart, even she couldn't make watching this drivel anything but a two-hour chore.

Masterpiece? Pur-lease.