
            
                It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Be the first to contribute! Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide.
            
    

Walking with Dinosaurs

L'héritage de la chouette


            "Un Coeur en Hiver" translates as "A Heart in Winter". The three main characters are: the enigmatic violin craftsman (luthier) Stéphane (Daniel Auteuil); the charismatic violin shop owner Maxime (André Dussollier); and the impossibly beautiful violinist Camille (Emmanuelle Béart). Stéphane and Maxime are men perhaps in their early forties. Camille is a women in her late twenties. The age difference is significant if not unseamly.The overriding questions the movie poses are "Whose heart is 'in winter'?" and "Why?"Stéphane is so unemotional that it is easy to assume that the title refers to him. See the end for a spolier that explains why his heart is this way.In the typical French style, the plot/dialogue is fairly minimalist, leaving long stretches during which the viewer can ponder the existential questions it poses. The fact that it is in French with English subtitles makes it harder for the English viewer to catch all the subtleties, while simultaneously heightening the sense of being unconnected, especially to Stéphane.The plot is almost non-existent. Stéphane works for Maxime in his high-end violin repair shop. Camille is a concert violinist who Maxime woos both as a customer and a love interest. Stéphane watches Maxime and Camille become a couple, with implied jealousy. In a series of interactions over the tuning/repair of the violin, we see Camille's interest in Stéphane grow. Maxime and Stéphane seem to be polar opposites. Maxime is a charismatic bon vivant businessman, and Stéphane seems to be a painfully shy, meticulous craftsman.In a typical formula movie, the plot would go as follows: Girl falls for handsome/rich/athletic/shallow alpha man. Girls meets shy/kind/thoughtful underdog loser. Girl learns to love underdog who vanquishes the alpha male in a final showdown by using his wit to defeat brawn.In this movie, girl (Camille) falls for handsome bon vivant (Maxime). Girl then meets shy underdog (Stéphane). Girl learns to love the underdog. So far, perfectly understandable to American audiences. Then, against formula, Stéphane does not return Camille's affections. He leads her on, then eventually rejects her, breaking her heart.Maxime, knowing that Camille is devastated and would have preferred to leave him for Stéphane (if Stéphane was interested), has a decision to make. Does he reject Camille who has betrayed him? No, instead Maxime is outraged not with Camille but with Stéphane. He curses Stéphane and slaps him in the face, not for stealing his lover but for rejecting her.In the end, Camille returns to Maxime. Maxime accepts this because he loves Camille and is willing to be her second choice. Camille accepts this because her only choices are unrequited love for Stéphane, or being alone. Instead she choses the comfort/respect of a perhaps loveless relationship with Maxime.And what of Stéphane? What has he chosen and why?Except for a short interlude earlier in the move where we see Stéphane visit an old friend/mentor and play briefly with a child, the reader of this review now knows as much as anyone who has seen the movie. This leaves viewers largely intrigued but perplexed, so I'll lay it out for you.Maxime comes across as a good guy even though he left his wife for Camille. Camille is beautiful, young, talented, intelligent, kind, etc. You can't fault Maxime for falling in love with Camille, although perhaps in a French society used to mistresses, he is seen as a cad for leaving his wife. Is his heart "in winter" because he coldly left his wife, or because he knows Camille will never truly love him? No, his heart is warm and generous. He does not abandon Camille even though she has betrayed him. He loves her. If his heart was cold/calculating at the beginning of the movie, he certainly has learned his lesson. His heart is broken, but no longer cold.Camille in the end is "damaged goods." She seems genuinely unaware of the possibility that a man, any man, would reject her. She retreats to Maxime's comforting hug as a child would retreat to her father. Her heart, so vital at the outset of the movie is now broken and cold, perhaps forever. Perhaps she will find eventual love with Maxime, but they have a long, difficult road ahead, and it is unclear if she will ever heal or ever love Maxime. He seems content to wait an eternity, frozen in time if not in temperature.And now we come back to Stéphane. He was aloof and enigmatic at the beginning of the movie. He was calculating and manipulative in the middle. And at the end, he is portrayed as being unbelievably cruel or cold. People assume that any man who could ignore Camille (Emmanuelle Béart) is incapable of love. She is truly a breath-taking beauty. So why is Stéphane's heart "in winter"? It is not in winter because he is unable to love Camille, and viewers who missed this need to go back and watch the entire movie.SPOILER ALERT:Stéphane is in love with Maxime (yes, gay).At the beginning of the movie, he is pining for Maxime who is married and sees Stéphane as solely a platonic friend. Stéphane accepts that Maxime is married and won't leave his wife. When Maxime leaves his wife for Camille, Stéphane is heartbroken, knowing he will likely never be able to love Maxime openly. It isn't even entirely clear if Maxime is aware of Stéphane's love for him. He is aware of it intellectually, but clearly doesn't understand/appreciate a homosexual man's love for another man. (In this way, it is mirrored by Camille not understanding how Stéphane, or any man, could fail to love her.)Stéphane clearly decides that he cannot bear to see Maxime with Camille. He sets out to tear them apart. Stéphane treats Camille as if she is totally disposable, because he only wants to hurt Maxime. This is indeed very cold to Camille, and she is completeely unaware of Stéphane's game. Even Maxime seems to think that Stéphane is in love with Camille. Only in the end when Stéphane rejects Camille does Maxime understand both the cruel manipulation by Stéphane, and the pain that Stéphane must be in. Maxime lashes out at Stéphane for breaking Camille's heart, but in so doing has to recognize that he too broke Stéphane's heart.And there you have it, the inexplicable explained.For evidence that my hypothesis is correct, and that Maxime is neither unaware nor innocent, listen carefully at the beginning of the movie (narrated by Maxime). He says, in essence, that he leads Stéphane on enough to keep this master craftsman working in his violin shop rather than opening his own business. Maxime knows that Stéphane loves him, but being heterosexual, he shows no real understanding of what that means.And with this in mind, it begins to all make sense. Now we understand why Stéphane seduces Camille but rejects her. As any heterosexual male will attest, if you are not gay, you would fall for Camille (Emmanuelle Béart) in an instant. Instead, Stéphane is really after Maxime, and sees Camille as either a rival or an inanimate object (like a beautiful china doll). Stéphane fails to appreciate that Camille is a living person whose heart he will break. His heart is too cold to think of anything but exacting revenge on Maxime.As further proof, there is a subtle parallel thread in which Camille's music coach (a female) is in love with Camille, but Camille just glosses over the issue neither confronting nor rejecting a person she views only professionally/platonically.For the record, I'm straight, so I'm not just reading these themes into the movie for my own sake. I asked a friend who's gay whether he agreed with my take on the movie, and he thought I was crazy.Now go re-watch the movie, and judge for yourself.I'm pretty sure I'm 100% right. No other interpretation is even remotely sensible.
    

Un Coeur en Hiver

Tell No One

Bad Seeds

Same Old Song

Black Box

Micmacs

36th Precinct

Diplomacy

Mélo

A Good Marriage

Perceval

Love Unto Death

This is Our Land


            A widowed merchant (André Dussollier) is forced to move to the countryside after going bankrupt, with his six children, three sons and three daughters. His youngest daughter, Belle (Léa Seydoux) is the only one happy with the change. When one of the merchant's ships is found, the merchant prepares to return to reclaim his assets. While his two older, spoiled daughters give him a long list of expensive things to bring back for them, Belle asks only for a rose. The merchant arrives and learns that the ship and its cargo have been taken to settle his debts. On the way home through the forest, the merchant loses his way, his horse slips and is injured, and they are attacked by wolves. He laments that he has "not even a weapon to finish off" the poor horse. The merchant stumbles upon the magical domain of the Beast (Vincent Cassel). In the castle, all of his needs are magically met, including food, the exact items his daughters had asked him to bring, and his horse, magically cured. He packs up and departs with the items. Passing through the garden, he recalls Belle's request of a rose, and he picks one. He is immediately confronted by the Beast, who thunders at him for taking the rose. As punishment, the Beast demands the merchant return to the castle in one day after saying goodbye to his children. If he fails to return, his family will be killed. The father returns home and tells the story to his children. Learning of her father's fate, Belle, feeling responsible, takes her father's horse and returns to the castle to offer herself in the place of her father.At the castle, Belle is accepted as a substitute for her father. She is given luxurious goods and permission to roam the grounds, but must return every evening for dinner with the Beast warning her not to escape. At night, Belle has a vivid dream, revealing the backstory of the Prince: he enjoys hunting, but often ignores the Princess (Yvonne Catterfeld) who loves him but is lonely. The Prince is after an elusive golden deer, and when the Princess asks him to stop hunting the deer, he promises to do so if she will give him a son. Belle wakes to find the Beast watching her sleep before he suddenly flees. Belle explores the castle grounds, eventually finding a statue resembling the Princess from her dream. At dinner, the Beast displays a rather cold exterior towards Belle while attempting to charm her, only to be rejected. He suddenly bursts out at Belle stating he will claim her despite her resistance. She later has another dream: The Prince announcing that he and the Princess will have an heir, but when she reminds him of his promise, he seems to have forgotten. During dinner, the Beast apologizes for his previous behavior. Belle makes the Beast a proposal; she will dance with him, if she is allowed to see her family one last time. The two begin to dance though amidst it all, the Beast asks for Belle's love. Jarred, Belle demands to see her family as she had bargained. When the Beast refuses, Belle fervently rejects him once again. That same night, she witnesses the Beast prey upon and devour a hog. In shock, she attempts to escape by running into the enchanted forest only the Beast to catch up to her on the frozen lake. As Belle was knocked down and pinned, the Beast attempts to kiss her only the ice to break as she sinks into the frozen lake. The Beast pulls her from the water, and brings her to the castle. The Beast agrees to let Belle return home, giving her a small vial of healing water. He tells her return to him in one day or he will "die".Belle arrives home, where her father is bedridden, and seems to be dying. She pleaded for him to wake only to fall asleep. Belle's eldest brother, Maxime (Nicolas Gob) finds a jewel on her clothing, positing that the castle may contain further treasures. He wants to find it to settle his debt to gangster Perducas (Eduardo Noriega). He knocks out his youngest brother, Tristan, who tries to stop him, and meets with Perducas and his gang, leading them to the castle. Belle has one final dream about how the Prince broke his promise and killed the golden deer. While dying, the deer transformed into the Princess, revealing she was the Nymph of the Forest who became human because she wanted to experience love. She begged her father, the God of the Forest, to spare the Prince from his wrath. But he transformed the Prince into a beast, changed the hunting dogs into Tadommes, and his friends into statues. The God of the Forest proclaimed that only the love of a woman would break the Beast's eternal curse. Belle awakes her gives father the vial of water, reviving him. She attempts to return to the castle, and discovers that Maxime has taken the horse to meet with Perducas. Tristan takes her to the castle, arriving just as the Beast is about to kill the invaders, including Belle's brothers. The Beast stops his attack when Belle begs for mercy. Perducas stabs the Beast, mortally wounding him. Suddenly, vines sprout about the castle destroying anything in their paths. Perducas's lover, Astrid, is killed when he abandons her, but not before cursing him of his fate. Perducas is soon killed by the vines and turned into a human tree. Belle and her brothers carry the Beast into the castle, and place him into the healing pool of water. Dying, the Beast asks whether Belle could ever love him, and she counters that she already does. The Beast sinks into the water then resurfaces, transforming back into the Prince and the Tadommes back into dogs.The story is being told by Belle to her two young children. They are living in the same countryside house, surrounded by rose bushes, with Belle's father, who is now a flower merchant. Belle goes outside to greet her husband, the Prince, and the two kiss and embrace.
    

André Dussollier

André Dussollier Movies or Tv Shows (upto Dec 2024) - Watch Online

Your region:
USA

Fan Zone

Streaming Availability

Releases by Year

Top Genres

Average IMDB Score