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Sunday January 26th 2025

Le Genou De Claire (Claire's Knee) | 1970

Le Genou De Claire (Claire's Knee) film location: Annecy and Lake Annecy
Le Genou De Claire (Claire's Knee) film location: The Love Bridge, Annecy | Photograph: Shutterstock / Shutterstock / Adri1

The fifth film in Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales is set among the moneyed middle-classes in the Haute-Savoie region of France, alongside Lac d'Annecy.

The town of Annecy itself, on the lake's northwest shore, is some 60 miles east of Lyon at the foot of the Alps.

Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy) is introduced arriving in Annecy by motorboat, under the Pont d'Amour. Legend has it that whoever you kiss in the middle of the bridge, you'll stay with for life. Since the bridge was once a notorious hangout for prostitutes, it's probably safe to say this is a myth.

When he's recognised by his old friend Aurora (Aurora Cornu), they meet on up on the bridge. Here they realise they're to be neighbours for the next couple of weeks in the town of Talloires, some seven miles south of Annecy on the lake's eastern shore.

Aurora's villa is just south of Talloires in the village of Angon. If you want to experience those breathtaking lakeside and mountain views yourself, it seems to be where charming restaurant La Guingette de Cassines now stands.

The various conversations, flirtations and games are played out on the grounds of luxury boutique hotel and restaurant Auberge du Pere Bise, in Talloires itself.

The towns are overlooked by the rugged rocky outcrops of the western edge of the Bornes-MassifPointe Centrale, Col des Fretes and the highest peak, La Tournette.

It's on a brief visit to Annecy that Jerome sees Claire's (Laurence de Monaghan) untrustworthy boyfriend Gilles (Gérard Falconetti) meeting up with another girl by the fountain in Les Jardins de l'Europe.