Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8922 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
French
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo French
Dolby Digital Stereo
English

Synopsis
Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) and Maxime (Andre Dussollier) are partners in a respectable violin making and repair business. One day a beautiful violinist named Camille (Gallic beauty Emmanuelle Beart) enters their shoppe and their lives, immediately striking up an affair with the outgoing Maxime. But Camille finds herself inexplicably drawn to the enigmatic Stephane, an extremely withdrawn individual incapable of feeling passion yet completely comfortable with his own emotional solitude. Convinced she can break through Stephane's cold exterior, Camille travels further and further into the realms of obsession until her unrequited love reaches its inevitable and dangerous conclusion.

Customer Reviews

watchable and involving Gallic tristesse (with nice music)
This is a quiet, very French film about a subtle kind of unhappiness. Maxime and Stephane are violin restorers, working together at the highest level. Maxime plans to marry the almost impossibly beautiful Camille (Emmanuel Beart), a gifted young soloist beginning to make her way in the world of concerts and recordings. Then she is distracted by the strange magnetism of the younger Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) and becomes obsessed by him. But Stephane, though attracted to her, is unable to love her and tells her so. His is the 'coeur en hiver'. Many more things happen, and the film eventually ends with all the main protagonists on good terms, having come to understand each other better, but none fully happy. It's a curiously unmelodramatic, 'grown-up' sort of film, which avoids both the conventional happy and the obvious tragic ending, and I enjoyed it. The acting is first rate, and there has to be a special word for Beart who must mime very complex violin playing and does so with great skill (apart from also lighting up the screen every time she appears). The music - Ravel's Violin Sonata and Piano Trio - adds a good deal of atmosphere to the film and the scenes in the violin restorer's workshops are expertly handled ; it's a convincing film, an unusual one and an enjoyable one.

Superb acting and great music - what more could you want?
This film shows how love triangles and other complex relationships should be treated by film makers. Beart and Auteuil carry their parts to perfection, with many emotions and thoughts conveyed without any need for words. The Ravel music is ravishing. I've seen this film several times, and it still fascinates. The ending is especially poignant. The entire film is mature and completely lacking in superfluous sentimentality. It involves you, having no special tricks or film cliches to get in the way of the great acting and strong story.

a magnificent film about love and friendship
All the actors in this film give performances of the highest standard.The interaction between Emmanuelle Beart,Daniel Auteuil and Andre Dussollier is electric and this is probably Beart's best ever cinematic performance.Beart has been in Hollywood blockbusters such as Mission Impossible where she seemed awkward and out of place but when you see her in Un Coeur En Hiver speaking her native tongue you will see that she is one of the finest actresses in the business.