Nelly and Mr. Arnaud

Nelly (Béart) is married to Jerôme (Berling), a man who is unemployed and has stopped searching for work. Nelly was made redundant from her publishing job and now just has odd jobs at a printing shop and a bakery, so has fallen six months behind on the rent for their apartment. Talking with her friend Jacqueline (Nadeau) at a coffee shop, she encounters Pierre Arnaud, a wealthy, retired businessman who had a languid affair with Jacqueline in the past and who had seen Nelly in the past at one of Jacqueline's parties. After discovering Nelly is in debt, Arnaud offers to give Nelly 30,000 francs as a gift. Nelly reluctantly accepts, pays her overdue rent and then leaves her husband and moves out.

Nelly agrees to type Arnaud's memoirs, but he insists this will not be to repay the gift; he will pay her. Working at Arnaud's apartment, Nelly learns Arnaud was a judge in a colony, and later a businessman; he is separated from his wife and estranged from his two children.

Nelly has an affair with Vincent (Anglade), Arnaud's editor. Arnaud feels jealous although his exact feelings for the much younger Nelly never become entirely clear. Vincent rents a new apartment and then asks Nelly to move in. She refuses, telling him she doesn't want to change the character of their relationship, and Vincent breaks up with her.

She continues working for Arnaud until his wife Lucie (Brion) returns from Geneva for a few days after her companion dies suddenly. Nelly comes to work one morning and finds Arnaud and Lucie with their bags packed about to leave. Arnaud tells Nelly that he and his wife have decided to take a long round the world trip that they always had dreamed. The film ends with Arnaud at the airport looking wistful and uncertain, and with Nelly bringing Arnaud's manuscript to Vincent's office where she is sure to see her former lover.

• Emmanuelle Béart as Nelly
• Michel Serrault as Pierre Arnaud
• Jean-Hugues Anglade as Vincent Granec
• Claire Nadeau as Jacqueline
• Françoise Brion as Lucie
• Michèle Laroque as Isabelle
• Michael Lonsdale as Dolabella
• Charles Berling as Jerôme

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 96% based on reviews from 23 critics.

• BAFTA Awards (UK)
  • Nominated: Best Film not in the English Language
• César Awards (France)
  • Won: Best Actor – Leading Role (Michel Serrault)
  • Won: Best Director (Claude Sautet)
  • Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Jean-Hugues Anglade)
  • Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Michael Lonsdale)
  • Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (Emmanuelle Béart)
  • Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Claire Nadeau)
  • Nominated: Best Editing (Jacqueline Thiédot)
  • Nominated: Best Film
  • Nominated: Best Music (Philippe Sarde
  • Nominated: Best Sound (Pierre Lenoir and Jean-Paul Loublier)
  • Nominated: Best Writing (Jacques Fieschi and Claude Sautet)
• David di Donatello Awards (Italy)
  • Won: Best Foreign Film
• Valladolid Film Festival
  • Nominated: Golden Spike (Claude Sautet)
• Won: Louis Delluc Prize

• Nelly and Mr. Arnaud at IMDb
• Nelly and Mr. Arnaud at Rotten Tomatoes