Françoise has gone into business seducing men whose wives want to divorce them, and who need incriminating evidence against them. In addition, she has a little blackmail operation going on on the side with politicians who can't afford a scandal. She got started on this business after she was raped, and hasn't looked back since. Now the police are on her trail, and she avails herself of the services of a couple who make a profession of hiding wanted criminals. At the hideout, she meets Simon, a second-generation mobster. As the police close in, Françoise and Simon go on the run together, pulling off occasional heists for operating money. Before long, they have also fallen in love.
Acting
Deneuve makes morally bankrupt look impossibly chic.
Direction
Lelouch's restless camera never lets anyone settle.
Score
Francis Lai's theme haunts like a memory you're not sure is yours.
Director
Claude Lelouch
Catherine Deneuve
Françoise
Jacques Dutronc
Simon Lacassaigne
Jacques Villeret
Tonton Musique
Paul Préboist
Mimile
Evelyne Ker
Tata musique
Jean-François Rémi
Le père de Françoise
Monique Mélinand
La mère de Françoise
Bernard Le Coq
Le photographe
Guy Rétoré
Le ministre
Daniel Auteuil
Un voyou
Gérard Caillaud
Bliche
Bernard Crombey
Alain
Gilberte Géniat
Zézette
Jacques Godin
Le commandant Strauss
Émile Genest
Le chef de police américain
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lelouch shot this immediately after 'A Man and a Woman' made him bankable, using his own money to maintain creative control. The financial freedom shows in the moral recklessness.
Deneuve and Dutronc were real-life exes; their on-screen friction carries genuine unresolved history. The film weaponizes their actual breakup chemistry.
FR
CA
