The Lovers = Les amants

Jeanne Moreau plays a bored, rich, provincial married woman (Jeanne) who visits Paris every weekend to escape the boredom of rural Dijon. But even Paris, and her love affair with a polo-playing playboy, cannot make her forget the ennui and tedium of her narrow life. It is only when her car breaks down and she is picked up by the cynical Bernard (Jean-Marc Borc), that Jeanne is forced to revaluate her life and the meanings she has attached to her class and position. Louis Malle’s first feature film created much controversy when released for its matter of fact treatment of adultery and its consequences. An updating of Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary”, it is the hypocrisy and selfishness of the haute-bourgeois that is condemned in “The Lovers”, rather than the sexual freedom desired by both Jeanne and Bernard. This extremely self-assured and accomplished debut is also a loving tribute to the beauty and screen magnetism of Moreau. (Awards: Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival) Cast also includes Alain Cuny as Jeanne’s sardonic entrepreneur husband.