FAQ

Francesca Cunningham () attempts suicide and is placed under the care of a psychiatrist, Dr Larsen (). In a series of flashbacks, Francesca reveals the secrets of her life, especially her involvement with her second cousin, guardian, and music teacher Nicholas Cunningham (James Mason), her first boyfriend Peter Gay (Hugh McDermott), and her second boyfriend and the painter of her portrait Maxwell Leyden (Albert Lieven).

The Seventh Veil is based on a screenplay written by the British husband and wife screenwriting team, Muriel and Sydney Box.

Dr Larsen explains it like this: "The surgeon doesn't operate without first taking off the patient's clothes, nor do we...The human mind is like Salome at the beginning of her dance, hidden by seven veils -- veils of reserve, shyness, fear. Now with friends, the average person will drop first one veil, than another, maybe three or four altogether. With a lover, she'll make it five or even six...but never the seventh...The human mind likes to cover its nakedness...You will never get the human mind to do that. That's why I use narcosis."

Narcosis is a means of inducing a sleeplike state through the use of drugs.

After Dr Larsen gets permission from Francesca, Nicholas, and Max to keep treating her, he looks up Peter and asks him to come to see Francesca. As all three of her suitors wait in the parlor, Francesca can be heard playing Pathetique (Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 for piano, Op 13 in C minor). Dr Larsen comes downstairs and explains to them that Francesca is cured but that she is a new woman and is about to make her own decision as to which of the three men she chooses to be with, the one she loves, the one who has made her the happiest, the one that she cannot do without, the one she trusts the most. Francesca then descends the stairs, open the doors to the parlor, and runs straight into Nicholas' arms.