François, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children. One day he meets Emilie, a clerk in the local post office.
This film contains many feminist elements that reflect the movements that were taking place among women during that time. These feminist movements emphasized "consciousness raising" among women that encouraged the female population to refuse to be silent and "to act in their own interests," an idea that embodied the words of French feminist Simon de Beauvoir, author of The Second Sex, when she stated that "women's identity was a social construct that stood in the way of full equality." It is subversive, but cleverly so. On the surface, this is a man openly involved in an affair, and rather than deal with the consequences, everything just sort of works out okay for him. Obstacles are presented as way too easy. This is not real life. But while on the surface the message is about a man who easily has two women, the deeper message is to be found through a closer inspection.
This film contains many feminist elements that reflect the movements that were taking place among women during that time. These feminist movements emphasized "consciousness raising" among women that encouraged the female population to refuse to be silent and "to act in their own interests," an idea that embodied the words of French feminist Simon de Beauvoir, author of The Second Sex, when she stated that "women's identity was a social construct that stood in the way of full equality." It is subversive, but cleverly so. On the surface, this is a man openly involved in an affair, and rather than deal with the consequences, everything just sort of works out okay for him. Obstacles are presented as way too easy. This is not real life. But while on the surface the message is about a man who easily has two women, the deeper message is to be found through a closer inspection.