A three-part anthology directed by Max Ophüls, Le plaisir is a sardonic examination of the pleasures and pains of French society in the late 1800s. Uneven in tone, the vignettes range from the frothy and bawdy to a very dark, cynical view of humanity.
Released in 1952, the film’s based on three short stories by Guy de Maupassant. The first deals with a thin, young-looking dandy (Jean Galland), who collapses while dancing clumsily at a packed Parisian dance hall. Summonsed to treat him, a doctor (Claude Dauphin) discovers he’s wearing a mask which disguises a breathless old man. The doctor takes him home, where his loyal, long-suffering wife (Gaby Morlay) tells him she’s used to such ruses: her husband is trying to cheat the ravages of time and attract pretty young girls.
The middle section follows the madam at a Normandy bordello as she closes the joint for the weekend, to the consternation of her patrons, while she and her girls head to the countryside to attend the first communion of her niece. On the train, they try to act genteel to impress a crusty old farmer and his wife, and they rebuff a lecherous travelling garter salesman. Arriving at the village, not a lot happens: the gaudily-dressed girls cause a stir among the locals; they’re moved to tears by a hymn in church; and the madam’s brother is firmly put in his place when he gets too frisky with one girl.
The final sketch is a bitter-sweet tale of the romance between a painter (Daniel Gélin) and his beautiful muse (Simone Simon). It’s love at first sight, but as narrator Peter Ustinov as the voice of de Maupassant explains, lust dies quickly and familiarity breeds contempt. He moves out, explaining his family has arranged for him to get married, and she threatens to kill herself. There is a happy ending, of sorts, but at a painful cost.
