It's a complicated Christmas in 1888 in the Parisian home of the widowed, limping Count Jean Debucourt. His mother, Marguerite Moreno, is an overbearing monster. The governess, Madeleine Robinson, is secretly the lover of their thieving estate manager, Roger Pigaut; he has stolen the receipts from the estates and tells Robinson they will move to Canada. Meanwhile Debucourt tells Robinson he wants to marry her. This interferes with the plans of his daughter, Douce. She is played by 29-year-old Odette Joyeux as 15 going on 30, and she loves Pigaut. When Robinson turns down Pigaut's offer, Joyeux tells him she will elope with him.
Which among the three -- Robinson, Joyeux and Pigaut -- is honest about their confused wishes and hopes? How will it all play out? Director Claude Autant-Lara directs this adaptation of Michel Davet's novel with a heavy, cynical hand. He was born in 1901, the son of an actress who proclaimed herself as a pacifist at the outbreak of the First World War and fled to England, and an architect. He began in the theater as a set designer, then worked for Marcel L'Herbier. He began to direct in 1926, and when sound came in, he directed the French-language version of Keaton's PARLOR, BEDROOM AND BATH. Soon he was back in France, directing a string of more than 40 varied, expertly made, financially successful movies, all over the shop in terms of content. He directed his last movie in 1977 and died in 2000.
Which among the three -- Robinson, Joyeux and Pigaut -- is honest about their confused wishes and hopes? How will it all play out? Director Claude Autant-Lara directs this adaptation of Michel Davet's novel with a heavy, cynical hand. He was born in 1901, the son of an actress who proclaimed herself as a pacifist at the outbreak of the First World War and fled to England, and an architect. He began in the theater as a set designer, then worked for Marcel L'Herbier. He began to direct in 1926, and when sound came in, he directed the French-language version of Keaton's PARLOR, BEDROOM AND BATH. Soon he was back in France, directing a string of more than 40 varied, expertly made, financially successful movies, all over the shop in terms of content. He directed his last movie in 1977 and died in 2000.