The Man Who Loved Women

In December 1976, mourners gather for Bertrand Morane's funeral at a cemetery in Montpellier. Geneviève Bigey stands apart, noticing that everyone present is a woman, hinting at Bertrand's life filled with romantic entanglements. The scene frames the film's inquiry into his pursuit of happiness through many loves.

Earlier in life, Bertrand works in a laboratory testing aerodynamics of scale aircraft models, but his true passion is chasing women. He goes to extreme lengths, including faking a car accident, to find one alluring woman, only to sleep with Bernadette after she leaves the country. His insatiable appetite for conquest sets the template for his later memoirs.

Bertrand befriends Hélène, who runs a lingerie shop and is drawn to younger men. Sensing a change in his lifestyle, he decides to write his memoirs to preserve his conquests before they fade from memory. This decision marks a shift from pursuit to reflection.

In his manuscript, Bertrand recounts his first sexual experience with a prostitute and sketches a distant, cold mother who neglected him for her lovers. He catalogs numerous long- and short-term affairs, building a portrait of a man addicted to variety. The writing reveals an attempt to understand the roots of his behavior.

An emotionally unstable woman named Delphine Grezel enjoys making love in public and becomes involved with Bertrand. Their relationship ends when she is imprisoned for shooting her husband. After her release, she visits Bertrand, and they have a threesome with Bernadette, adding drama to his memoir.

Bertrand contracts gonorrhea, and the doctor is impressed that he cannot identify the giver, noting he has slept with six women in the previous twelve days. The episode underscores his relentless sexual escapades. It also fuels the tension around the 'little black book' of lovers he keeps.

A typist hired to copy the manuscript quits after being embarrassed by its explicit content. Bertrand feels disillusioned and briefly stops writing. The incident exposes the vulnerability of his literary project.

Bertrand takes a week off work to finish the book and sends the completed manuscript to publishers. The completion signals a new phase where his life could reach a wider audience. The self-exposé becomes a test of his ambition and resolve.

After a flurry of rejection letters, Geneviève, an editor, champions Bertrand's manuscript and arranges publication. Bertrand travels to Paris to meet her, where he unexpectedly runs into Véra, an old flame whose breakup years earlier drove him to seek stability elsewhere. He refuses to share a dinner with her, signaling unresolved feelings.

Realizing the book was inspired by Véra yet omits her, Bertrand considers rewriting. Geneviève counsels him that writers often feel they failed their original aim and encourages him to make the next project about Véra. He agrees to trust her judgment and proceed with revisions.

As publication progresses, Geneviève falls for Bertrand and they begin an affair. The relationship complicates the boundary between author and editor and deepens his tangled web of loves. It also blurs the line between personal desire and professional ambition.

During the Christmas season, Bertrand cannot reach anyone in his little black book and roams the streets pursuing two women. He is hit by a car, hospitalized and told not to move, but his attraction to a nurse's legs causes him to lunge, fall from his bed, and die. The irony of a life spent chasing women culminates in his accidental death.

At Bertrand's funeral, Geneviève reflects that she is the only one who knows the full story of his life. She does not doubt that, in his own way, he loved each of his former lovers and that he sought happiness through quantity rather than through a single person. The film ends on a contemplative note about his relentless search for fulfillment.