Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud

In VL-3/97, Lea Russo wrote: "Winner of two Césars (the French equivalent of the Oscar), writer/director Claude Sautet's film follows the platonic love relationship between an older man (Michel Serrault) and a young woman (Emmanuelle Béart), who meet through a mutual friend and wind up writing his memoirs together. Though the two never have sex, their relationship is wrought with humor, tension, jealousy, and love. Serrault and Béart have wonderful chemistry, playing well off the other's emotions and creating a realistic sense of mutual attraction. A lovely and subtle film which lacks many of the sugary ideals found in Hollywood romantic comedies..." Although the DVD contains no real extras to speak of, the digital transfer is very nice and the audio is clear and crisp. Recommended. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Oct. 8, 2019—Kino Lorber, 106 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1995’s Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud features a nice transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger, and a booklet essay by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum. Bottom line: this solid French relationship drama looks luminous on Blu-ray.]