La Marie du port

Plot

Henri, owner of a busy brasserie and cinema in Cherbourg, takes the easy-going Odile who lives with him to the funeral of her father in Port-en-Bessin. The two are bored with each other. He waits for her in a café where he is taken with a new waitress called Marie, unaware that she is Odile’s tough little sister. He buys an old trawler in Port-en-Bessin, which he visits often to oversee its restoration and to pursue Marie. She has a young admirer called Marcel who gets drunk and is knocked down by Henri’s car. Henri takes the lad to his apartment in Cherbourg, where Odile can look after him. One day the provocative Marie turns up at Cherbourg, tantalising Henri but not giving in. Tired of trying to seduce her, he takes her to Marcel’s room, where they find Odile in bed with him. Disgusted with all three, Marie gets a bus home. A phone call from there about his boat warns Henri that Marie has been threatening to throw herself into the sea. He drives over in haste and she tells him she can in fact swim like a fish. As a last effort at winning her, he slips the keys to his business into her victorious hand.

Background

The contemporary US-American version was significantly edited and is noticeably shorter.

Cast