My Night at Maud's (1969)

34-year-old engineer Jean-Louis has just started a new job in Clermont. He lives a relatively solitary life not knowing anyone in town except his work colleagues, and he has made a conscious decision that they should not become his de facto friends just because they work together. He also chooses not to socialize because of his situation and needing to make the long daily commute to/from Ceyrat, where he currently lives. He has had his fair share of women during his adult life and now chooses to adhere most closely to his Catholic beliefs in approaching romantic and sexual relationships with women with the sole goal of love and marriage. He keeps seeing a pretty blonde at Mass on Sunday mornings and without knowing her or even talking to her, he believes that this woman is destined to be his wife. He has been reading the writings of Blaise Pascal and finding the mixture of mathematics and Catholicism just what he needs to be reading and applying to his life. One day just before Christmas, he runs into Vidal, an old college friend he hasn't seen in 14 years, now a Philosophy professor at the college. In the course of getting reacquainted over the next couple of days, Vidal invites Jean-Louis over to his friend Maud's apartment the day after Christmas. Maud is a recently-divorced pediatrician, the mother of young-adolescent daughter Marie. Much of Jean-Louis, Vidal, and Maud's discussion that evening uses Pascal as a jumping-off point, veering into his philosophies in relation to sex and love; Vidal and Maud, being atheists, have a different view than Jean-Louis. This night, which Jean-Louis learns was not by accident on Vidal's part, has the potential to reshape his life as he would have to admit his attraction to Maud, who is not the theoretical of the perfect mate for him. If he does stay true to his thoughts of the blonde, he could find that a happily-ever-after with her is not a guarantee, and she might have her own baggage.—Huggo