Douce

In Paris in 1887 Irène is governess to Douce, the granddaughter of the Countess de Bonafé. Young Douce believes she is in love with Fabien, the manager of the estate, but the difference in class makes marrying him impossible. Her widowed father, the Count de Bonafé, is infatuated with Irène and has proposed to her; at the same time Fabien is planning to run away to Quebec with Irène. When Douce learns of this she tells Fabien about her father’s proposal and persuades him to run away with her instead, and the order of the household is overturned in a night. Claude Autant-Lara’s hundred and nine minute French film was made during the occupation and puts class difference at the centre of its melodrama. Odette Joyeux plays Douce and Madeleine Robinson plays Irène; it was completed in 1943.