Françoise Legrand, better known as "Sappho", attractive young woman of the Parisian bourgeoisie, flits from man to man with the consent of Maurice Duran-Vior, his rich protector, a renowned financier. At a social gathering, she meets Lionel de Lancey, younger than she, a cool diplomat, and, as usual, she spends the night with him.
Acting
Marina Vlady's devastating stillness—she barely moves, she destroys
Direction
Farrel's clinical eye turns bedrooms into operating theaters
Costume
Every outfit costs more than the emotional stakes
Director
Georges Farrel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released amid France's post-'68 hangover, the film embodies bourgeois malaise dressed as liberation. Vlady was at peak 'sad beautiful woman' casting.
Director Georges Farrel made only three films; this was his last. The title's classical reference is deeply ironic—Sappho the poet loved deeply, Françoise loves nothing.
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