569 - Quadrille, France, 1938. Dir. Sacha Guitry.

Thursday, January 10, 2019

569 - Quadrille, France, 1938.  Dir. Sacha Guitry.

Hollywood Heartbreaker in Paris.

Philippe is a newspaper editor.  His six-year lover Paulette is an actress, starring on the stage in Lady of Camelles.  Her friend Claudine is a reporter, whom Philippe wishes would write more articles for him.

Philippe confides in Claudine that he is planning to propose to Paulette, and he wants Claudine to talk to her to find out confidentially what she would like as a gift.  Without telling her.

But Hollywood Heartthrob Carl Erickson is in town, and all of Paris is going out to see him.  Claudine, because she is a reporter.  Philippe, because an event this big requires an editor to come personally.

Philippe gives Mr. Erickson tickets to the play, and Carl gets a good look at Paulette from his box-seat.  He goes to her dressing room after the show and invites her out.  They go to his hotel.

In the dance that ensues, Philippe goes to Paulette.  Paulette goes to Carl.  Carl goes to Claudine.  Claudine goes to Philippe.  A quadrille.

Yet not in equal measures.

Much of the film focuses on Philippe's relationship with Paulette, the timing of his pending proposal, and his feeling cuckolded by Paulette's affair with Carl.  Carl is in and out like a flash, and Claudine is a faithful friend.

In the end, two pairs come together who are right for each other.  A Shakespearean comedy.


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Would you like to meet Carl Erickson, the most loved man in the world?
The most loved man in the world is the one I love.

The colder the champagne is, the more it warms you.

A man never cheats on his mistress.

You both have a place in her heart.
Just what a man wants to hear.

Women amaze me!  They envy each other and steal each other's lovers, but they'll gang up in a flash to make a fool of a man and blame him for all they've done.

Every affair is a new battle.

You vixens are all the same.  There's no point getting attached to any of you.  Any pretty woman will do.  It's enough to make a man marry and become normal.

I will marry her only on the condition that I have you.

Thirty years of faithfulness have gotten me nowhere.

She looked lovely.
I stupidly told her it [her dress] flattered her, so naturally she thought it made her look fat.

Is it my fate to go 24 hours without my own woman?  It's dreadful.  I'll never have another man's wife.  Oh, well.  Let's get married anyway!