The neglected daughter of an industrialist who made his fortune in explosives supplies during the war and of a mother who was mostly concerned with herself, Monique Lerbier is a pretty blonde with generous but strong ideas and a hard character. She has chosen to be an atheist since her adolescence and does not tolerate injustice and social hypocrisy. She was to be married to an engineer, Lucien Vigneret. It was an arranged marriage, the dowry having to allow Vigneret to enter the capital of his father's company, which needed it to finance its business. But two weeks before the wedding, Monique surprises the fiancé with a mistress.
Acting
Marie Trintignant's controlled fury—never raises voice, always raises stakes.
Costume
The garçonne look: bobbed hair, dropped waists, sartorial manifesto.
Writing
Dialogue that weaponizes politeness. Every 'madame' cuts like glass.
Director
Étienne Périer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
'La Garçonne' was a scandalous 1922 novel by Victor Margueritte, banned by the Vatican and celebrated by flappers. This adaptation arrived as 1980s France re-examined post-war gender roles through period lens.
Marie Trintignant, only 26 here, would become French cinema's queen of damaged complexity before her tragic death in 2003. This role announced her specialty: women too smart for their own good.
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