Philippe Marcenat, a businessman and common sense man, adores his wife Odile with an exclusive love. She loves her husband, but she feels imprisoned by this love, limited in her aspirations. She wants to see friends, allows herself to be courted, and all this would be without seriousness, if the husband were not too strict and some friends too talkative. If Philippe, for his part, did not pay too much attention to his colleague Isabelle who seems to him to be adorned with the virtues that Odile lacks.
Stellio Lorenzi ,an educated man, essentially worked for TV ;his historic movies stood out in the small screen production ;his famous "les Rosenberg ne doivent pas mourir" (the Rosenberg must not die ) ,made more a decade before Sidney Lumet's "Daniel ", displayed his communist affinities ;his popular miniseries 'Jacquou Le Croquant" was a plea for a square deal for the poor masquerading as melodrama .
"Climats',based on an André Maurois novel, depicts a wealthy milieu,with luxury apartments , sumptuous receptions ( the mother blames her daughter for using expensive taxis ;she just answers :"we won't let a franc stop us ");the hero's daddy dwells in a manor : a heir,he was born silver spoon in hand .
Unfortunately ,the director does not really take side; he does show that money can't buy happiness ,for the story tragically ends ,but the nouvelle vague treatment -close to Pierre Kast"s works- drowns this out .It probably made the early sixties audience dream,not fight against social injustice.
It was the first and ony time a Lorenzi work had been theatrically released ,and it may explain the directing flatness: that a director who worked for the telly used a wide screen is amazing!
The story is divided into two parts , devoted to the hero's two wives ;,with a good sense of ellipsis ; if the viewer does not yawn his head off ,it must be because of the cast : Marina Vlady,Emmanuelle Riva, Alexandra Stewart , Jean-Pierre Marielle and Michel Piccoli (in a small part) are part of the creme de la creme of the French actors of the time (although Stewart is Canadian);they carry the movie at arm's length ,and make the movie watchable if sometimes dull.
