He returns from the front to recuperate from wounds suffered during World War I, and the father and son engage in subtle rivalry for the attention of the painter's latest nude model, the teenage Andrée Heuschling (Christa Théret), a spirited, ravishingly beautiful redhead.
S moves into a backyard cottage and immediately demonstrates an uncanny rapport with the youthful Seth, which builds to a flirtation right under Lady's nose, placing the two women in a subtle rivalry bordered on both sides by in shoddy film noir terms psychosexual craving.
And subtle rivalries will continue to colour proceedings.
In these stories, houses, sometimes even gardens, are fertile playing fields for subtle emotional rivalries.
"Me You Them," though, is an unexpected delight, a film that weds the humor and magic of a folk tale with a very modern feel for the psychological dynamics between men and women and for the subtle politics of male rivalry in a macho culture.
At 80, Mr. Rohmer still seems capable of finding new variations on the themes he has pursued indefatigably over three and a half decades and two dozen films: the shifting dynamics of heterosexual desire, the subtle emotional politics of rivalry and alliance between men and women, and the erotic and intellectual pleasures of talking about it all.
The Cameron Crazies, those avid fans in dark blue, carried not-so-subtle reminders of the last rivalry battle – newspapers splashed with images of North Carolina's defeat, and even a cardboard cutout of Tyler Zeller draped in a Duke jersey.
Doc Rivers' introduction to the Clippers' top rivalry could be about as subtle as a Zach Randolph elbow to the ribs of Blake Griffin.
But both teams remain prominent in the world of soccer and, in a subtle and quirky way, help enhance the already vibrant rivalry between James and Garnett and their N.B.A. teams, the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.
A subtler propellant for late-night TV has been the rivalry between Leno and Letterman.
It bristled like the angular splinters in the woodwork; it pulsed in the air, a disturbance that was deep, subtle, and voiceless, the vibrant presence of low-pitched rivalries, masked by politeness, or sometimes by hostile displays of affection.
