CESAR AND ROSALIE is an upper-class French romance in which Montand, Schneider, and Frey are the three sides of a love triangle--an arrangement that seems tolerable to all three.
Montand, a likable scrap-metal dealer who lives life to the fullest, is in love with Schneider, who has a young daughter from a previous marriage. When family and friends gather for the wedding of Schneider's mother, an unexpected visitor arrives--Frey, Schneider's former lover, who disappeared
from her life after breaking up her marriage. Frey's reappearance shakes Schneider, who still loves him, especially after he admits to Montand that he is still in love with her.
This intelligent and funny romance is directed with Sautet's usual inoffensiveness, especially his all-too-complacent view of bourgeois life. What makes the film (at the time, one of France's top money-makers) worth watching is the interplay among Montand, Schneider, and Frey--and the subtle
attraction between Montand and Frey, two very diverse men bonded in their love for the same woman. In a supporting role is 17-year-old Isabelle Huppert, in one of her very first film appearances. leave a comment
