The wife of a rich building contractor, beginning to tire of being merely a social asset to her husband, finds an outlet by running an art gallery and taking a lover. In the end, she sacrifices both men for her independence. White sports cars, cocktail parties, an art gallery, a recording studio, modern skyscrapers, jazz and Bach on the soundtrack and quick, slick cross-cutting, give Astruc’s contribution to the ‘Nouvelle Vague’ an over-riding air of chic. In this film Astruc is also influenced by Japanese filmmaker Mizoguchi (‘Tales of a Pale Moon After the Rain’) for whom he had great admiration.
Credits: Producer, Leopold Schlosberg ; director, Alexandre Astruc ; writers, Alexandre Astruc, Claude Brule ; photography, Marcel Grignon ; music, Richard Cornu, Jean-Sebastien Bach ; art direction ; Jacques Saulnier.
Cast: Annie Girardot, Christian Marquand, Daniel Gelin, Michele Girardon, Michele Gerbier.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
X000386
Languages
English
French
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)