Made when Louis Malle was only 26, and his star Moreau still a newcomer to starring big-screen roles, this richly-textured tale of bourgeois ennui and erotic intrigue affirmed them both as new stars of French cinema. Moreau plays Jeanne, who is bored by her wealthy merchant husband and suave polo-playing lover alike.

Over a torrid weekend break, Jeanne reassesses her options – and the film confronts the question of what sentimental attachments really signify. Is love a matter of hard-won loyalty, mysterious spiritual connection, or temporary sexual curiosity? Is infidelity always wrong, or can it be justified in the name of seeking after emotional truth? Whatever its philosophical conclusions, the film’s sexual frankness made it notorious at the time of its release. An Ohio cinema manager took his case for screening it all the way to the Supreme Court, and triumphed when Judge Potter Stewart made his famed pronouncement on pornography: “I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”