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IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Saddled with a dull husband and a foolish lover, a woman has an affair with a stranger.Saddled with a dull husband and a foolish lover, a woman has an affair with a stranger.Saddled with a dull husband and a foolish lover, a woman has an affair with a stranger.

Director
- Louis Malle
Writers
- Louise de Vilmorin
- Dominique Vivant
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

6.2K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Louis Malle
Writers
- Louise de Vilmorin
- Dominique Vivant
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

Photos93

+ 85

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
After screening this film, Nico Jacobellis, manager of the Heights Art Theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was charged with and convicted of possessing and exhibiting an obscene film. He appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which overturned the convictions, ruling that the film was not obscene. In a concurring opinion, Justice Potter Stewart made his famous pronouncement concerning what was pornography: "I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring).

Goofs
When Jeanne and Bernard are sitting at the table at the end of the film, the camera moves towards them and becomes visible in the mirror on the wall.

Quotes
Bernard Dubois-Lambert: "The moon rising in cloudless skies, suddenly bathed her in its silver beam."
Jeanne Tournier: Whom do you mean?
Bernard Dubois-Lambert: "She saw her image glowing in my eyes. Her smile like an angel's did gleam."
Jeanne Tournier: "The night is beautiful."
Bernard Dubois-Lambert: "The night is a woman."

Connections
Featured in Arcana, connaissance de la musique: Musique et cinéma: 1 La musique de films (1969)

Soundtracks
String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major Op. 18 II. Andante ma moderato
(uncredited)
Written by Johannes Brahms
Conducted by Serge Baudo

User reviews46

Featured review

7/10

Insipid mess, go get some Bergman

This is my first Louis Malle film and I found myself really quite disappointed. One of the other posters says that the theme is about freedom and uncertainty. I would agree with this, but to be blunt a better way to learn about the subject would be to listen to the Brahms' String Sextets without the film.

Jeanne Moreau has been described in this movie as inscrutable, I'd agree with that, in this film we find out absolutely nothing of interest about her character, and I'm left perplexed as to the attraction Bernard had for her (purely libidinous?). The morality of the film is very confusing, certainly we can applaud Jeanne's existential urge to escape from her stifling fling, her marriage, and her Parisienne lifestyle, but the fact that she leaves her daughter behind is execrable. The woodland scenes are intriguing but a bit too contrived. If you want to see films about relationships I would suggest most of the oeuvre of Ingmar Bergman, which is far superior.

All in all a rather insipid, though beautiful, mess. Deserves 7 out of 10 because it is provocative and like all good art, subversive.