Gilberte Valandray [Sabine Azéma] is the socialite wife of a wealthy Parisian businessman, Georges Valandray [Pierre Arditi], and she has long kept a hidden past: a previous marriage in America that was never validated. Only her spinster sister Arlette [Isabelle Nanty] knows the secret, a quiet triangle of trust that Gilberte guards as part of her carefully curated social life. Secure in her husband’s confidence, Gilberte moves through a circle of admirers—flirtations that stay strictly on the surface. Among them are Faradel [Daniel Prévost], a middle‑aged dilettante, and Charley [Jalil Lespert], a young avant‑garde artist. Gilberte’s world becomes even more entangled when her young friend Huguette [Audrey Tautou] enters the mix, attracted to Charley in her own right. The delicate balance is disrupted when Georges unexpectedly invites an American visitor, Eric Thomson [Lambert Wilson], to dinner, a man who turns out to be Gilberte’s first husband in disguise. Embarrassed and cornered, Gilberte pleads with Eric to safeguard the secret she has kept for years.
Ten days later, a glittering soirée at the Valandrays’ house centers on Charley’s new play, “Âmes primitives,” a work imagined to unfold in Mexico. Eric weighs the idea of renewing his marital claim on Gilberte, while she tries to fend him off by hinting that Charley could be more than a mere acquaintance. Faradel offers practical help by giving Charley access to his bachelor flat, and Charley brings Huguette there—with Gilberte in tow. Meanwhile, Eric, who is poised to take over the lease on that very flat, hands the address to Georges, weaving further confusion into a web of loyalties and lies.
The following afternoon brings all the characters to Faradel’s bachelor flat, each arriving under a different pretext, and they are greeted by the sharp eyes of Madame Foin [Darry Cowl], the building’s concierge. As Georges believes he has finally unearthed Gilberte’s secret, Arlette steps forward to reclaim the truth—declaring that she is, in fact, Eric’s first wife and that the couple is reconciled. Eric clings to the lie with a surprising relish, a moment of personal triumph at being kissed on the lips he once thought forbidden. In the meantime Charley has fallen under Huguette’s spell, and, against the backdrop of revelations and reconciliations, Georges and Gilberte find themselves restored to a peaceful equilibrium, their marriage once again buoyed by the old, complicated thread of trust and deception that began it all.
