A twenty year old Anouk Amee stars as Albertine, the daughter of a bourgeois couple who house a young officer during the Napoleonic wars. Newly promoted, the officer (Jean-Claude Pascal) is quartered by a dull bourgeois couple who treat him with a cold politeness bordering on indifference.

One evening, their young daughter Albertine (played by a twenty year old Anouk Aimee) returns home from boarding school. She too treats the soldier with indifference... until one evening, to his astonishment and unnoticed by her aloof parents, Albertine seizes his hand under the dinner table. Soon, they embark on a silent nocturnal affair that ends in tragedy.

see also articles on:
Top 10 Films by Lesser Known Directors || Alexandre Astruc Profile || French New Wave History || French New Wave Film Guide