Maggy (Judith Magre) tells Jeanne (Jeanne Moreau) that love agrees with her, saying that she is so transformed, she is unrecognizable.
Jeanne is in Paris with her friend Maggy watching a polo match. They are there specifically to see Jeanne's lover Raoul (Jose Luis De Villalonga); after which Maggy will exit the scene, leaving Jeanne and Raoul to carry on their love affair.
After her romantic rendezvous with Raoul, Maggy's words echo in Jeanne's ears as she drives back to her country estate in Dijon. Along the way, Jeanne nearly runs her car off the road looking at herself in the mirror, looking for the signs of change of which Maggy spoke.
The Lovers Invites Controversy
Arriving home, Jeanne's daughter compliments her mother on her new hairstyle. Husband Henri (Alain Cuny) disagrees, and chooses to belittle his wife's insistence on transforming her look for Paris. Henri is a stuffed-shirt aristocrat who tolerates his wife's frequent trips to Paris, ostensibly encouraging her life-long friendship with Maggy.
After Jeanne takes a longer than expected excursion to Paris, Henri becomes jealous, and suspects there may be more to her trips than simply comforting an old friend. Henri insists Jeanne invite Maggy to the estate for the weekend; further insisting Maggy bring her boyfriend, Raoul.
After reluctantly agreeing to the weekend, Jeanne becomes disoriented by the prospect, frantically driving back to the country from Paris in an attempt to arrive before Maggy and Raoul can be intercepted by Henri.
In her frenzy, Jeanne's car breaks down. She hitches a ride with a young archaeologist named Bernard (Jeab-Marc Bory), who irritates her with his constant talking and persistently pleasant attitude. When she describes the unpleasantness she expects to find upon her arrival home, her resistance to Bernard's charm proves futile, as he amuses her with his cutting characterization of Henri as a big, brown bear growling at her cave door.
Jeanne is so amused by Bernard, that when they do arrive to find the trio waiting in the driveway, she bursts out laughing; unable to stop, Henri, Maggy, and Raoul all feign concern for her sanity. After Bernard introduces himself, and explains his reason for being there, Henri requests that Bernard stay for dinner and spend the night, rather than drive back to the city.
Jeanne Moreau Awakens Controversy
So, the table is set, and dinner is served; Henri and Jeanne on one side of the table; Maggy and Raoul on the other side; Bernard in the middle. The tension is immediate, as Raoul regales the table with his stories of travel and adventure. Speaking about his discovery of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy while in Russia, Jeanne interjects her desire to visit Russia.
Henri interrupts by questioning Jeanne's curiosity about Russia, claiming her only previous interest in travel was to visit Provence, adding, as a second honeymoon. As an unbearable silence falls, Henri smiles broadly.
After a bit of brandy, cigarettes, and uncomfortable silence in the study, night falls, and it's bedtime. Maggy retires to her room, and Jeanne walks down the long narrow hallway with Henri on one arm, and Raoul on the other.
Raoul is deposited into his room, Henri and Jeanne turn and enter the room adjacent. A long static shot of the dark, empty hallway is broken when Jeanne exits Henri's room, and is quickly taken by Raoul. Fearing Henri will see Raoul's presumptuous embrace, Jeanne escapes to her own room up the hall.
As the house sleeps, Jeanne, dismayed by Raoul's childish antics, and depressed by Henri's jealousy, takes a midnight stroll around the grounds. Her peaceful wandering is disrupted by the appearance of Bernard; she in her nightgown; he still fully dressed. After some stilted conversation, the instantly recognizable signs of sexual tension arise, but soon break.
I'll Know It When I See It
The subsequent series of events between Jeanne and Bernard will be some of the most controversial and scandalous scenes ever filmed. Leading to a climax that is shocking, not simply for it's content, but for it's prophetic vision.
In the 1950's, most Americans saw women, especially married women, as June Cleaver or Donna Reed; so it comes as no surprise to learn that The Lovers' graphic depiction of a married woman wanting, pursuing,and having sex, with more than one lover, and enjoying it thoroughly, was shocking.
So much so, that a theater owner in Ohio was arrested and convicted on obscenity charges for showing the film. The theater owner took the case to the Supreme Court, and won. One judge who ruled on the decision uttered what would be the most-oft quoted statements ever made regarding the definition of pornography: I'll know it when I see it.
The French Film as Feminist Art
Jeanne Moreau's subtle and sensual performance in The Lovers deserves to be placed along side some of the great performances, like Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice.
The Lovers predates the landmark feminist art of the 1970's, that sought to proclaim a woman's right to her own sexual identity and freedom, in works like Erica Jong's Fear of Flying (1973) and Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman (1978).
The Lovers was directed by Louis Malle when he was only 25 years old, and was loosely based on an erotic novel written by French artist and archaeologist Dominique Vivant. Malle's expert camera work and sensitive framing as a director on The Lovers would prove to be just the tip of the iceberg for a French film maker who would go on to direct some of the most challenging and thought-provoking American movies of the late 20th century: Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1980), My Dinner With Andre (1981), and Damage (1992).
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