Une étrange affaire

Infobox Film
name = Une étrange affaire


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director = Pierre Granier-Deferre
producer = Alain Sarde
writer = Christopher Frank
Pierre Granier-Deferre
Jean-Marc Roberts
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starring = Michel Piccoli
Gérard Lanvin
Nathalie Baye
music = Philippe Sarde
cinematography = Étienne Becker
editing = Isabel García de Herreros
distributor =
released = 23 December 1981
runtime = 105 min
country = France
language = French
budget =
gross =
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amg_id =
imdb_id = 0083257

"Une étrange affaire" ("Strange Affair") is a 1981 French film directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre, and starring Michel Piccoli, Gérard Lanvin and Nathalie Baye.

Plot

Louis Coline (Gérard Lanvin) is an executive assistant in a declining Paris department store. While he is not ambitious and has little to do, he is content with his wife Nina (Nathalie Baye), visits to his mother and grandmother and nights out with his friends playing poker. However, the manipulative Bertrand Malair (Michel Piccoli) becomes the store's new manager, and arrives to shake up the company. Louis fears for his job, but Bertrand draws him into his inner circle of confidants. Bertrand starts to control Louis' life, while Louis is afraid of losing his priviliged position. To maintain it Louis works overtime, accepts Bertrand's invitations to nightclubs and dinners with an androgynous woman, and places his house at Bertrand's disposal. Nina sees through her husband's behaviour and objects, but Louis cannot refuse Bertrand's demands, and she is unable to make him see how much his personality has changed. Desperate, she leaves her husband, which only draws him further under Bertrand's control. Bertrand soon disappears as mysteriously as he came, and Louis finds himself unable to revert to his previous self.

Awards

The film won the Louis Delluc Prize and the César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and it received César nominations for best actor, best supporting actor, best director and best writing.