Love in the Afternoon (1972 film)

Plot

Frédéric (Bernard Verley), the young and successful partner in a business, is happily married to Hélène (Françoise Verley), an English teacher, and father to one child with another on the way. Still, something eats away at him. While going through his day, Frédéric begins to ponder the times before he was married, when he was free to be with any woman he wanted and could feel the deep satisfaction of anticipation while he chased them. At one point in the film, he has an elaborate fantasy where he possesses a magical amulet that causes all women to bow to his will (the sequence features actresses from previous "Moral Tales"). These thoughts do not distress Frédéric though, as he sees these ideas as a reflection of how true his love to his wife is.

One day, a woman from Frédéric's past appears at his office, hungry and homeless. Chloé (Zouzou) had once been the girlfriend of an old friend of Frédéric's, and had caused this friend a great deal of grief. At first Frédéric believes Chloé only wants cash and company, but over time, as she tries a series of jobs to attempt some type of solidity in her life, to the increasing amusement of the secretaries in Frédéric's office the two begin spending afternoons together, talking of many things Frédéric finds himself unable to talk to his wife about. He enjoys the pleasures of an attractive mistress without the guilt of adultery, while she has a man who will do whatever she wants without needing sex.

But it cannot last. After the birth of Frédéric's second child, Chloé decides she too needs a child to give focus to her aimless existence and, while she has no desire to be tied in marriage, that Frédéric must be the father. He ponders whether to stay with the faithful wife he loves greatly or whether to launch into the unknown with a woman for whom he feels a strange deep passion. A decision is precipitated when Chloé summons him to her latest address and, when he arrives, she is in the bath. Emerging, she invites him to towel her dry all over, which he does, and then calls him to her bed. Leaving her naked and waiting, he scampers out of the apartment and down the flights of stairs to safety, like a frightened boy. Going home to Hélène, the tears that spill from her show that something definite yet not altogether dire has changed between the two of them.

Cast