This is a haunting film...in its visual beauty, in its performances and certainly in the sensitive direction of Claude Sautet. Auteuil and Beart are perfectly cast. It's a unique theme...in that a beautiful woman obsessed with a man cannot arouse any real passion or interest in him..because as the title implies, his heart is frozen. What I found particularly moving was how both Auteuil's portayal and the script itself made him, for me, a sympathetic figure...I felt I could understand him and feel his inner angst (for whatever psychological reason).

Beart too gave her characterization a depth and a reality that made me not only believe in her plight, but remember when I had some of those same feelings. The violin playing and exquisite music also added a lovely melancholy touch. For me, this was Sautet's masterpiece. Wish he were still with us to give the world more of his talent.

English film critics, especially those at a loss for what else to write, often refer to films such as this as 'very French'. This certainly holds true in so far as French cinema is mainly concerned with character rather than plot.

Claude Sautet was a respected 'script doctor' before his breakthrough film 'Les Choses de ma Vie' which not only put him on the map but made an international star of Michel Piccoli and revitalised the career of Romy Schneider. He went from stength to strength and made his last film 'Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud' in 1995 starring Michel Serrault and Emmanuelle Beart.

'A Heart in Winter' is his penultimate film and is as one would expect from Sautet, a piece both beautifully written and constructed. Sautet has here collaborated on the script with Jacques Fieschi loosely based on the novella 'Princess Mary' by Lermontov. The plot is easily told. Camille, Maxime and Stéphane move within the cloistered world of classical music. Camille is having an affair with Maxime but falls for Stéphane and is devastated by his refusal to respond. Emmanuelle Béart as Camille convinces totally as a professional musician and took violin lessons for a year to prepare for the role. She was of course destined to be underrated as an actress because of her beauty. To describe the Stéphane of Daniel Auteuil as 'enigmatic' would be an understatement. A woman might very well be attracted to elusiveness in a man but there is a limit to her patience. That Auteuil and Bart were romantically involved at the time brings a definite piquancy to the film. As Maxime André Dussollier is splendid and the supporting players uniformly excellent. The cinematography of Yves Angelo is stunning and the use of Ravel's music inspired. Sautet was one of the last true craftsmen of French cinema and if as some say this film is a little cold then it is the coldness of a polished gem.

With three outstanding performances, I assumed that this was one of those unrequited love stories where the guy who was there first trumps the sad friend who came on the scene later. But what we have here is a bit of that, but turns out that the second man, Stephane, has an empty heart. He has been working with his friend forever. When it comes to craftsmanship, they practically read each other's minds. Finally, the road is left open for Stephane and he has no answer but to reject his opportunity. In the middle, is Camille, the absolutely gorgeous and incredibly talented violinst who is the center of their worlds (maybe?). The metaphor of the violin maker is so clever here. There is an incredible tightness as eighty pieces of wood are brought into play to produce the most beautiful sounds imaginable. Stephane is like one his violins. He has the skills. Has all the parts. But he never met the person who can take him to humanity. I had not heard of this movie and an so pleased to have seen it.