I decided to see this movie after I saw that in 1971 it made #1 and #3 respectively on Siskel and Ebert's top 10 movie list for that year.

Many of the other reviews do an excellent job at plot summary and imaginative interpretation, so I won't be redundant, but there are several interesting scenes that have double meanings that I hadn't seen explicitly pointed out… and there are also some scenes that in 2007 don't come across so successfully as they apparently did back in 1971.

The story takes place near Annecy in the French Alps, and revolves around the visit of Jerome a 35+ year old diplomat, to a vacation cottage where his friend Aurora an aging novelist, is staying with two young girls, the precocious Laura 16 and the beautiful and aloof Claire 18.

The scenery of the river (the River Thiou?) and surrounding mountains is simply staggering, and its hard not to be jealous of the easy life these characters have.

Note the physical intimacy Jerome has with Aurora, how they fondle and grope each other during conversation, then later between Jerome and the child Laura, as they cuddle together in the mountains. Contrast this with the unapproachable Claire, who Jerome desperately wants to get close to, but whose desires are unrequited.

This film is largely about the self-delusion of the diplomat Jerome, and the manipulative craftwork of the novelist Aurora, who plainly refers to the people she lives with, along with Jerome, as "Guinea pigs" to find inspiration from for her stories. In a moment of unintentional comedy, Aurora describes her life without any significant others, offering "I've been alone for more than a year. It's very pleasant."

In a telling exchange between Jerome and Aurora, Jerome confesses he is frustrated he has not made it into her stories. She then offers suggestively that even if he slept with someone the night before his wedding she still wouldn't write about him. "And if I didn't sleep with her?" he says. "The story would be better. Things mustn't happen." (sic) Well call me naïve but I like see a plot filled out with things happening. But here at least we see Rohmer's modus operandi.

Aurora suggests Jerome lead on the young Laura, so she has something to write about. Jerome eventually takes Laura for a hike on La Tournette. Alone they rest in each others arms, Laura asks Jerome if he's happier with her or his wife. After frolicking for a bit, the bearded Jerome suddenly starts making out with the 16 year old. She pulls away, saying she wants to be in love for real…

Soon thereafter we meet Claire for the first time, tanned and tone in a skimpy bikini, and her brash and handsome boyfriend Gilles. It's clear that Claire and Gilles are perfect for each other, both young, capricious, impudent, and beautiful. At one point Gilles drives a motorboat through a group of swimming campers, then tells the complaining camp counselor something to the effect of, "Take a hike, Grandpa".

Jerome admits to Aurora that Claire arouses old desires in him. He becomes jealous of Gilles and believes he doesn't deserve her. In one scene they all go out dancing. Note how the camera lingers on Jerome after he is rejected by Claire after asking her to dance. His emotions wander and ramble from frustration, to self pity, to false recovered confidence, to introspection. The precocious Laura notices it all.

The day comes when Jerome sees Gilles being intimate with another girl. When Claire and Jerome are alone taking shelter from a storm, he uses this as a weapon to break down Claire's guard. Its an age-old drama, the jealous guy tries to win a girl's favor by ratting out her cheating boyfriend. It never works as intended. In this case Claire cries, and Jerome uses the opportunity to caress her knee. It's as close as he will ever get. The camera cuts to the banks of the river, which are now dark, choppy, and muddy. Like the thoughts and emotions of the characters. It's as if nature is disapproving.

Later Jerome accurately describes the whole incident to the curious Aurora. He mentions how fortuitous the incident was, that he no longer desires Claire because its as if he's already had her (self-deception), and that she will now break up with the undeserving Gilles (not a chance, as her jealousy over Gilles only makes her more attracted to him).

When Jerome finally departs from the cottage, Claire pretends to be sleeping and does not see him off. When Gilles arrives shortly afterward, she bounds out of the house in full tennis apparel, implying she was in hiding from Jerome and presumably had no desire to see him again.

As Claire and Gilles sit arm in arm on a park bench while Aurora spies on them, it seems clearer than ever that Jerome was indeed the guinea pig, and has finally made it into Aurora's stories.

After a dispiriting encounter with THE COLLECTOR (1967), the fourth number of Rohmer's SIX MORAL TALES, I feel elated that the fifth entry CLAIRE'S KNEE has rekindled my passion in Rohmer's body work, his superlative insight as regards self-boosting pretension over real agenda inward has reached a high-point in this basically nothing-has-happened miniature.

A high-flying diplomat Jérôme (Brialy) has returned to Lake Annecy to sell his family house, one month prior his wedding, he will marry the woman who he has an on-and-off relationship over 6 years. By sheer chance, he meets his old friend, the novelist Aurora (Cornu), who has lodged in Madame Walter's (Montel) lake house at the foot of the mountain nearby, to finish her latest novel.

While the two reminisce about the past and update each other with information of the intervening years, Aurora is slightly agape to know that Jérôme decides to tie the knot, in her view, he is not a marrying type, but Jérôme claims that he and her fiancée has reached a perfectly and mutually understanding phrase - an open relationship as long as there is nothing too serious to undercut their marriage, which implies that two-timing is not a problem at all.

Later Aurora introduces Jérôme to Madame Walter and her teenage daughter Laura (Romand), who, strikes up a crush on Jérôme. Aurora is stuck in writer's block, so Jérôme volunteers to be her guinea pig, to explore the situation with Laura, then reports back to Aurora with all the details. Laura is genial, precocious, coruscating with contradictory ideas (the love/dispute relation with her mother, bored/fascinated by the picturesque scenery), she is not afraid to admit her feelings for Jérôme, but when the latter attempts a wet kiss, she brushes him aside, teases that she wants to be totally in love, not with a soon-to-be-married man, yet the truth is that she will embark on her study in Britain, sooner than Jérôme's due date.

Jérôme enjoys Laura's company, takes her mountain hiking and riding in his motorboat, tries to cop a feel when timing is proper and fails epically, but how can any man not lap up the gratifying feeling of being the receiving end of a teenage girl's passing fancy?, although Laura's candid sophistication is something saps him of any further actions. However, before soon, Laura is no longer his main focal point, because Claire (de Monaghan), Laura's slightly older half-sister, a sultrier blonde arrives, so is her boyfriend, a muscle-showboating jock Gilles (Falconetti). Jérôme involuntarily develops a fetish for Claire's knee, tender, smooth and immensely arousing for his taste, he confesses to Aurora, and takes the ultimate task: to touch Claire's knee under her full consent.

So, obviously Gilles is the weak point to achieve his mission, expressing to Claire that she can find someone much better than Gilles is a stock line from a sour man who is not even qualified for competition, but insidiously avenges to break up a seemingly matched couple on a shaky pretext, it doesn't work usually, as the heart wants what its wants, there is always some behind-the-closed- door magic potion can retain a relationship, so who would take an onlooker's subjective opinion seriously, especially he is a total stranger? However, Jérôme seizes a golden opportunity, dismantles Claire's defence by aiming her Achilles heel, a young girl's intuitive insecurity, and he accomplishes his task, almost grotesquely surreal, during those time-still minutes, a whimpering Claire glances at Jérôme, whose hand is continuing rubbing her knee, she seems baffling but doesn't care to stop since it seems to be an innocuous gesture, still, in the eyes of a beholder, a latent sexual tension has reached its breaking point.

In Jérôme's self-satisfactory version, his act is bold but meritorious, not only he fulfils his primal desire, it is also beneficial for Claire, to save her from the hands of a philander, so, he leaves with triumphant brio to his approaching wedding. Aurora stays, and in the end, from her eyes, we see what happens afterwards between Claire and Gilles, it is a far cry from what Jérôme has envisioned. It is all mapped out under Rohmer's master-plan, one's shallow and subjective vision versus what happens in reality, most of time, we are prone to feel conceited by our own judgment and perception, yet, most of it is indeed a fanciful illusion, a bubble masterfully bursts under the strikingly scenic palette and a spare cast.

The acting is above-par, a heavy-bearded Jean-Claude Brialy effortlessly alternates between a welcoming rapport with an amateurish Aurora Cornu (the Romanian-born French writer, who visibly glimpses into the camera many a time and inclines to speak her lines with eyes zooming in on the floor, but those tics doesn't impede the narrative, on the contrary it renders a vérité feel), an engaging and heart-to-heart communication with the newcomer Béatrice Romand, and his voyeuristic limerence with an attractive but vapidly uninterested Laurence de Monaghan. Told in a style of visualising diary entries in a one-month span, CLAIRE'S KNEE is mostly about talking, and talking could be tedious or overbearing, or sometime both, it all depends on who's talking, and how do the repercussions pan out, here Rohmer has found his feet and to say the least, the film is an undeniable acme in Rohmer's awe-inspiring oeuvre, a significant cultural legacy bequeathed to all mankind.