Das große Manöver

A small French garrison town at the turn of the century. The young officer Armand, a notorious womaniser, meets the resolute but already divorced Marie-Louise. He courts her - after all, it's a bet - but the cool-headed beloved doesn't make it easy for the seducer and initially rebuffs his advances. Until the unexpected happens: The frivolous game suddenly turns serious and Armand is in danger of losing his heart for the first time ... René Clair, who was one of the renowned directors of poetic realism in the early 1930s (UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS), directed this simple story with masterful irony, in which the leading actors Gérard Philipe, Michèle Morgan and the future star of French cinema - Brigitte Bardot - play a major role.