The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947) on Netflix
In 1880 Paris, former soldier Georges Duroy works as a poorly paid clerk. His old comrade Charles Forestier tells him that women are the quickest road to a better position.
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- IMDb6.7/10913 votes
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Plot summary
Georges Duroy, a former soldier who works as a poorly paid clerk in 1880 Paris, runs into his old comrade Charles Forestier, a sickly journalist who tells him that his charm with women is the quickest way to better himself. Forestier suggests he apply to his newspaper, La Vie Française, though Duroy has never written anything. At a dinner given by Forestier and his wife, Duroy meets the young widow Clotilde de Marelle, who wants to go dancing, and Suzanne Walter, fifteen, who feels restricted by her parents. The publisher at the table asks Duroy to bring him a sample piece the following day, so Forestier sends him to Madeleine, his wife, who helps him get the job. Duroy and Clotilde go dancing at a raucous nightspot where a singer performs a song about a scoundrel.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The 1945 painting The Temptation of St. Anthony by Max Ernst appears on screen as a brief splash of color in an otherwise black-and-white film, having won a contest among invited artists including Salvador Dalí, Dorothea Tanning, Paul Delvaux and Stanley Spencer to paint the theme.
- Susan Douglas Rubeš made her film debut as Suzanne Walter in The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, and had to sign a seven-year contract or she could not act in any more films, a common studio practice at the time.
