''Manèges'' is a French film directed by

Yves Allégret Yves Allégret (13 October 1905 – 31 January 1987) was a French film director, often working in the film noir genre. He was born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine and died in Paris. He was an assistant to film directors such as his brothe ...

and released in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. The film stars

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and ...

(married at the time to Allégret, although the marriage came to an end soon after),

Bernard Blier Bernard Blier (; 11 January 1916 – 29 March 1989) was a French character actor. Life and career Blier was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute, was posted at the time. His rotund featu ...

and Jane Marken. It is shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

style, with extensive use of flashback and the

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

of characters' unspoken thoughts. ''Manèges'' is noted for the exceptionally harsh and cynical manner in which Allégret delineates the characters of his two female leads, and has been accused of being

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

in tone. It was shot at the Neuilly Studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Auguste Capelier Auguste Capelier (April 2, 1905 – May 4, 1977) was a French art director. Hayward p.241 He worked designing film sets in the Cinema of France, French film industry, often collaborating with Georges Wakhévitch during the early stages of his car ...

and

Alexandre Trauner Alexandre Trauner (born Sándor Trau; 3 August 1906 in Budapest, Hungary – 5 December 1993 in Omonville-la-Petite, France) was a Hungarian film production designer. After studying painting at Hungarian Royal Drawing School, he left the c ...

. The film was released in English-speaking markets under various titles, including ''The Wanton'', ''The Cheat'' and ''The Riding School''.

Plot

Robert (

), a riding school owner, and his wife Dora (

) have a seemingly happy marriage until Dora is critically injured in a road accident, not shown on screen. Robert and Dora's mother ( Jane Marken) rush to the hospital to which she has been taken. Believing she is about to die, Dora spitefully asks her mother – a vulgar, tawdry and heavy-drinking woman – to put Robert in the picture regarding the true nature of the marriage, so that she can die gloating over his distress. As Dora is taken to the operating theatre, her mother takes vicious pleasure in informing Robert – who has been reflecting with sadness about happy times and the prospect of losing his wife – that the marriage has been a sham from the start. Via a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Dora is a manipulative, conniving and amoral gold-digger. Encouraged by her equally unprincipled mother, she set out to snare Robert purely for access to his finances in order that she (and her mother, to whom she has siphoned off significant amounts of money) could live a life of ease and outward respectability. In fact she has always despised Robert, mocking his unsuspicious nature and gullibility while amusing herself with a string of lovers. With the riding school business recently failing, Dora had decided that she had taken Robert for as much as she could, and had been planning to leave him for François, a richer lover who could further her social-climbing ambitions. But François goes away without warning, leaving Dora devastated. News comes through from the operating theatre that Dora will live, but is permanently paralysed. Robert states his intention to abandon her to her fate, leaving the mother alone with the prospect of having to care for her disabled daughter in straitened financial circumstances.''Manèges'' overview at Films de France
''Retrieved 23-07-2010''

Cast

as Dora *

as Robert * Jane Marken as Dora's mother (''unnamed in the film'') * Franck Villard as François *

Jacques Baumer Jacques Baumer (born Jacques Henri Nusbaumer; 12 April 1885 – 20 June 1951), was a French theatre director and comedian. Filmography * 1932: '' That Scoundrel Morin'' by Georges Lacombe * 1933: ''Étienne'' by Jean Tarride * 1936: ' by Max ...

as Louis *

Mona Dol Mona Dol (28 May 1901 – 29 December 1990) was a French actress. Born Amélie Alice Gabrielle Delbart in Lille, she died in Paris in 1990. Selected filmography * '' Number 33'' (1933) * ''Lucrezia Borgia'' (1935) * '' The Scandalous Couple'' (1 ...

as Head Nurse * Jean Ozenne as Éric * Gabriel Gobin as Émile

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maneges 1950 films 1950 drama films French drama films Films directed by Yves Allégret Film noir 1950s French-language films French black-and-white films Films set in France 1950s French films