Un carnet de bal

When her husband of 19 years dies at his desk in their magnificent Italian estate, Marie Bell goes in search of meaning to her life by visiting the men of her dance card from her first ball.

It's another example of Julien Duvivier's poetic realism, but from the viewpoint of the femme fatale. And here we have finally exposed what the f.f. Is thinking and it's... not much. After 19 years of married life, she concludes she never loved her husband and goes to find the men who swore they'd love her forever and find out what she's been missing.

In other words, it's another soap opera of the type that does not appeal to me. Mlle Bell has gotten everything she had bargained for, and, being unhappy, feels no need to give up anything in the exchange for happiness.

I suspect Duvivier felt the same way as I. He rarely seemed to like any of the women in his movies.

Despite that, I found this a very enjoyable movie, because of the men she goes to visit. While some of them have depressing stories, some of them have gotten on with their lives, like Raimu, Harry Baur, and in a beautiful performance, Louis Jouvet. The best of them have learned to compromise with their ambitions, and have some satisfaction. The others, not so much.