Film Forum

(1953) Steamed when informed of hubbie Louis Jourdan’s infidelities on the racing circuit, fashion plate Anne Vernon stalks off to a crummy apartment on the title street, gingerly handling flirtations with bi-before-his-time Jean Servais and a singing Daniel Gélin – but do Jourdan and she still love each other? 35mm print courtesy of the Institut Français, thanks to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Approx. 100 min.

Reviews

“This romantic comedy of decadence, frivolity, and cynicism seems imbued with the very high-gloss lacquer that it derides... Becker’s febrile pace and antic chatter hint at deep emotion while concealing the unstrung passions that a new generation, blasting away the varnish, would lay bare.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“While Becker has affirmed himself as one of the very best of French filmmakers, he and Annette Wademant — like Mlle. de Scudery — have sought to please, in the full and germane sense of the French 17th century. They have marvelously succeeded. For two hours, before our delighted eyes, their magic has guided us over their map of tenderness.”
– Michel Dorsday, Cahiers du Cinéma

“Beneath its blithe humor, it is a bleak vision of mismatched lives and misguided mores.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker