Une partie de plaisir (A Piece of Pleasure) is a 1975 French film directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues a ...

and starring its screenwriter and longtime Chabrol collaborator

Paul Gégauff Paul Gégauff (10 August 1922 – 24 December 1983) was a French screenwriter, actor, and director. He collaborated with director Claude Chabrol on 14 films. Among his films are ''Les Biches'', ''Plein Soleil'' and the autobiographical '' Une Pa ...

. In the film, Gégauff plays a writer with a troubled marriage that ends in tragedy. (In 1983, Gégauff was stabbed to death in real life by his second wife.) In this film, his wife is played by his real-life first wife

Danièle Gégauff Danièle Gégauff (née Rosencranz, died 2007) was a French actress and line producer. She was married to the French actor and screenwriter Paul Gégauff. Danièle Gégauff worked with executive producer Stéphane Tchalgadjieff. Danièle Gégauff ...

(already divorced when this film was made) and his daughter is played by real life daughter Clemence Gégauff.

Plot

Philippe and Esther are happily married and living a middle class life with their young daughter. In order to add excitement and sophistication to the marriage, Philippe suggests they begin sleeping with other people then describing it to each other. But Philippe becomes filled with jealousy and anger towards his wife until tragedy destroys the entire family.

Cast

as Esther *

as Philippe * Clemence Gégauff as Elise * Paula Moore as Sylvia Murdoch *

Cécile Vassort Cécile Vassort (born 2 June 1941) is a French film actress. She has starred in 45 films between 1963 and 2001. Partial filmography * ''A Woman in White'' (1965) - La jeune mère * '' Is Paris Burning?'' (1966) - Une jeune femme (uncredited) * ...

as Annie * Giancarlo Sisti as Habib * Mario Santini as Rosco * Michel Valette as Katkof * Pierre Santini as Michel

Reception

John Simon described Une Partie de plasir's story as 'partly trivial, and partly unbelievable'. Simon went described the films characters as 'too bad, too good, or too stupid to be true, and neither plot nor dialogue comes to the rescue'.

Notes

External links

Adultery in films French drama films Films directed by Claude Chabrol Films about domestic violence 1975 films Films with screenplays by Paul Gégauff 1970s French films {{1970s-France-film-stub