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» » Chez Maupassant La Parure (2007– )

Short summary

Mathilde and her husband, who works in a minister's office, are not rich. Mathilde, however, loves beautiful clothes and her husband loves her too much that he lets her do anything she wants. One day they receive an invitation for an important party and she wants to look her best. She borrows a beautiful diamond necklace from her rich friend. The necklace is lost and she is too proud to tell her friend what has happened. She and her husband buys a replacement. The friend doesn't notice the difference. Mathilde and her husband spend 10 years to pay the debts. When Mathilde meets her friend again, her hair is all white because of the sorrow.The friend tells Mathilde that the necklace is a fake.

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    • Author: Twentyfirstfinger
    Claude Chabrol transferred "Madame Bovary " to the screen in the nineties;so it was only natural he chose "La Parure " for his contribution to the "Chez Maupassant" collection;this short story is "Madame Bovary" in miniature.

    Mathilde Loisel dreams her life away:she wanted to be a socialite and she wound up married to a minor public official ;like in Flaubert's masterpiece ,the ball is the heroine's peak ,and the turning point of the story.

    Cécile De France is well cast as Mathilde,a spoiled child ,whose husband (well played by Chabrol's son) enjoys a good " Pot Au Feu" (boiled beef with vegetables) ,a dish not refined enough for his wife .A husband so generous and so nice he gives up on his dream of a new shotgun and thus allows his wife to buy a new dress for the ministry ball ,where,just for one night,she becomes the queen of elegance;but she loses her friend's diamond river,and to replace the jewel,she and her faithful husband will spend ten years in poverty,scrubbing other people's floor.Mathilde 's metamorphosis is stunning ,from a pretty wife to a slovenly uncouth working -class woman with a prematurely aged face.

    When I read the short story a long long long time ago,the last sentence was a totally unexpected end ;it still is.
  • Episode complete credited cast:
    Cécile de France Cécile de France - Mathilde Loisel (as Cécile De France)
    Thomas Chabrol Thomas Chabrol - Charles Loisel
    Charley Fouquet Charley Fouquet - Jeanne Forestier
    Jacques Boudet Jacques Boudet - Ministre
    Christian Hecq Christian Hecq - Maronsin
    Charline Paul Charline Paul - Maryvonne
    Valérie Kéruzoré Valérie Kéruzoré - Lucie
    Rémy Roubakha Rémy Roubakha - Concierge
    Bruno Lochet Bruno Lochet - Bijoutier
    François Lalande François Lalande - Usurier
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