Françoise Lugagne

A sophisticated and self-assured woman from Paris joins a middle-class rural estate as a maid and causes quite a stir among the variously uptight, perverse and violent inhabitants.

Follows a family man who meets women through lonely-hearts ads.

Philippe Clarence, a famous Parisian dressmaker, seduces his friend's fiancee. But, for the first time in his life, this is for real. The film is also a sharp picture of the fashion world.

Searching for release, Céline turns to painting and writes essays on the inequity between genders as she asserts her independence and gradually frees herself from her husband's claustrophobic world.