Les amants du Flore

I must say that it is kind of refreshing to see Nelson Algren called "the Chicago guy". All in all, the story is well known, but still so sad. The idea that male self-proclaimed geniuses could convince women of Simone de Beauvoir's intellect to do practically anything; the undeniable fact that celebrity status is enough to evoke sexual attraction… it is very difficult to feel optimism about the fate of women now as then. Yes, freedom begins with one's own wallet, and could do with a room of one's own, but captivity can surpass all this.

It does not help that the movie is rather on an easy, not to say on a kitschy side. Its competitor, Claude Goretta's mini series "Sartre, l'âge des passions" (2006) cannot change the sadness of the story, but at least can tell it in a much more realistic, convincing, and complex way.