Sacha Guitry is Désiré, a valet who goes to work for Jacqueline Delubac (Guitry's wife at the time). He has a cloud over his head. His last employer wrote him a good reference, but over the phone intimates that something embarassing happened that caused him to leave.
Delubac is the mistress of Jacques Baumer,a pleasant but stuffy cabinet minister. The three of them, plus cook Pauline Carton and lady's maid Arletty head off to Deauville, when there is a problem. Delubac and Guitry have loud erotic dreams about each other.
It's clearly a one-set play opened up for the screen. It's a witty affair that mocks the institution of marriage and class, and Guitry has written himself some very funny monologues, and a very funny dinner scene which includes Saturnin Fabre as a rude rake who propositions Delubac in front of his deaf wife, Alys Delonce. Looking at the movie, one can see how it was opened up, and wonder if it would play better on the stage -- particularly with such a fine cast.
Guitry's plays often mocked marriage, and it's easy to understand why; he was married five times,making one think of the saying that insanity is to make the same mistake over and again. The story is that in 1918, his first wife told him she had been praying at a church -- one that Guitry knew had just been destroyed by German guns. The divorce soon followed.
It's a fine story, and given Guitry's marriages and plays, it's easy to believe. One should, however, hesitate to accept the word of a humorous story teller. Sometimes they make up stories.
Delubac is the mistress of Jacques Baumer,a pleasant but stuffy cabinet minister. The three of them, plus cook Pauline Carton and lady's maid Arletty head off to Deauville, when there is a problem. Delubac and Guitry have loud erotic dreams about each other.
It's clearly a one-set play opened up for the screen. It's a witty affair that mocks the institution of marriage and class, and Guitry has written himself some very funny monologues, and a very funny dinner scene which includes Saturnin Fabre as a rude rake who propositions Delubac in front of his deaf wife, Alys Delonce. Looking at the movie, one can see how it was opened up, and wonder if it would play better on the stage -- particularly with such a fine cast.
Guitry's plays often mocked marriage, and it's easy to understand why; he was married five times,making one think of the saying that insanity is to make the same mistake over and again. The story is that in 1918, his first wife told him she had been praying at a church -- one that Guitry knew had just been destroyed by German guns. The divorce soon followed.
It's a fine story, and given Guitry's marriages and plays, it's easy to believe. One should, however, hesitate to accept the word of a humorous story teller. Sometimes they make up stories.