My Night at Maud’s

Jean-Louis, a solitary Catholic engineer, relocates to Clermont-Ferrand for work with Michelin and quickly believes he will marry Françoise, a young blonde woman he has seen at church. The move places him in a new city where faith and desire will be tested by new acquaintances. This sets the stage for a tense inner journey toward love and commitment.

Jean-Louis runs into Vidal, his old school-friend who is now an atheist Marxist philosophy professor. They discuss Pascal and philosophy, and Vidal invites him to a performance by violinist Leonid Kogan that evening. The meeting rekindles the tension between faith and intellect that threads through the story.

Vidal asks to meet the next day, which is Christmas Eve, but Jean-Louis plans to attend Midnight Mass. Vidal agrees to join and also arranges a visit to Maud afterward, though the visit is delayed because Maud must see her ex-husband. The day unfolds with conflicting loyalties and budding temptations.

At Maud's apartment, Jean-Louis, Vidal, and the brunette pediatrician discuss religion, Pascal, and Jean-Louis's relationship history. The conversation probes faith, desire, and the difficulty of reconciling them in real life. The dialogue foreshadows the moral tensions ahead.

Snow begins to fall as Maud reveals there is no guest room and invites Jean-Louis to join her in bed. He is shocked but ultimately sleeps under a blanket on Maud's bedspread. The moment raises questions about boundaries and the pull of intimacy.

Early in the morning, Jean-Louis and Maud kiss before he pulls away from a deeper embrace. As he prepares to go, Maud reminds him of a planned day trip to the mountains with Vidal and friends that afternoon. The encounter complicates his sense of duty and desire.

On the way to meet Maud's friends, Jean-Louis sees Françoise and they arrange to have lunch after Mass the following day. The unplanned encounter reopens the possibility of a relationship with Françoise while the social circle remains entangled. The tension between allegiance and attraction deepens.

In the mountains, Jean-Louis and Maud kiss, and she teases that she is not right for him because she is neither Catholic nor blonde. The moment intensifies the conflict between spiritual ideals and human longing. It becomes a test of what happiness could mean within competing loyalties.

Back in town, they go shopping and prepare dinner together. Before leaving, Jean-Louis notes that he feels happy around Maud because she is moving to Toulouse soon, so the future feels less burdensome to imagine. The scene blends ordinary life with a shadow of consequences and potential heartbreak.

Jean-Louis sees Françoise again and offers to drive her home. She is a biology postgraduate who works at a lab, and their conversation hints at a budding romance amid complex pasts. After a tense conversation in the morning, Françoise gently rejects a kiss and asserts that he does not know her well yet.

They begin to date, and Françoise admits she recently had an affair with a married man. She says she loves him but wants to move slowly and avoid dwelling on the past. The admission tests their limits and pushes them to define their boundaries.

Five years later, Jean-Louis is married to Françoise with a son and sees Maud at the beach. Françoise and Maud exchange greetings, and Jean-Louis reveals that Maud is the woman he mentioned spending the night with, only to realize that Françoise herself was the mistress of Maud's husband. He chooses not to reveal the truth, and they share a sunny family moment together.