The happiness of a newly-married couple, Henry and Jeannie Saint Clair, is shattered when the husband is made a paralytic in an automobile accident. The wife still loves him, although he is incapable of any physical love. She is slowly drawn into a short-lived affair with a handsome athlete, Robert Vanier. When the husband learns of the affair, he commits suicide. But the wife cannot forget him and she sends her lover away.
Acting
Jeanne Boitel's anguish in a single held look.
Direction
Gréville's shadowy compositions trap everyone.
Director
Edmond T. Gréville
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during France's brief pre-Code equivalent period, when films could explore female sexuality and marital dissatisfaction with unusual frankness before Vichy-era censorship tightened.
Françoise Rosay was Gréville's wife and muse; her Madame Gardane operates as the film's moral consciousness, watching Jeannie with the knowing compassion of someone who understands desire's cost.
FR
