Benjamin ou Les mémoires d'un puceau

There is a very French economy in the story-telling here: how a young man loses his virginity. An experience that we all recognise, simply told. The park at the château Hennessy in Cognac is evocatively photographed, giving that sense of the idealised, lost manor, that the French love so much. (Alain-Fournier wrote a very pretty novel about that)

Pierre Clementi and Catherine Deneuve, two VERY decorative figures, are loved by the camera; their climactic, moon-lit encounter is wistfully nostalgic of the '60s, when taking off your clothes was An Event. Mme Morgan is the very embodiment of A Presence.

Now that châteaux are invariably conference centers for greasy-haired accountants, now that all Presences have left us for ever, now that we have taken off our clothes just about a million times, this simple film is surprisingly moving.