Synopsis

A pretty, rich, young lady decides to masquerade as a lord in order to spy on her future husband. She'll take advantage of her masculine disguise to become Lélio's friend and discover what he's truly like before marrying him. Fooled by her disguise, he lets down his guard. He tells her how he once loved a countess, but he's renounced his past love for a certain Parisian lady: our lady in disguise... The "lord" stirs the countess' passion - along with that of two valets, Trivelin and Arlequin. Not content with just concealing her name - which she never reveals - by turns she'll be man and woman, aristocrat and lady's maid. In this way surrendering, without transition and by abrupt swings, to the harsh logic of classes that the old order tried so hard to keep apart.

Cast

The Countess: Isabelle Huppert
The Knight: Sandrine Kiberlain
Trivelin: Pierre Arditi
Lélio: Mathieu Amalric
Harlequin: Alexandre Soulié
Frontin: Philippe Vieux

Crew

Director: Benoît Jacquot
Assistant director: Antoine Santana
Casting: Frédérique Moidon
Continuity girl: Geneviève Dufour
Photography: Romain Winding
Sound: Michel Vionnet
Costumes designer: Corinne Jorry
Set designer: Pascale Consigny
Editing: Pascale Chevance
Sound mixing: Olivier Dô Hùu
Production manager: Christine de Jekel
Line producer: Françoise Guglielmi
Executive producer: Geroges Benayoun, Dacia Films

Production information

Coproducers: Pyramide Productions, Les Films du Camélia
With the participation of Canal +
Distribution: Pyramide
International sales: Pyramide International

Technical information

France
Year of production : 1999
Length : 90mn