Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (1971)
Directed by Jacques Deray

Film Synopsis

Gilles Lantier is a young man with a brilliant future ahead of him as a journalist.  But just as his career is about to take off he has a severe nervous breakdown and his life instantly falls apart.  It seems that nothing can cure him of his depression, neither the attentions of his girlfriend Eloïse nor the well-meaning support of his colleague Jean.  Feeling that what he needs most is a change of scene, he quits Paris and heads off to Limoges, to stay with his sister Odile.  It is here that Nathalie Sylvener enters his life.  They meet at a party one evening and as soon as Gilles sees this stunning, slightly older woman, he is spellbound by her.  Even though Nathalie is married, to a wealthy man, the reporter cannot resist falling in love with her.

Certain that he has found his one true love, Gilles makes a brief return to Paris to end his relationship with Eloïse, insisting that he is now devoted to another woman.  Nathalie appears to reciprocate Gilles' feelings for her, but whilst she agrees to live with him in Paris, she turns down flat his proposal of marriage.  After one disappointing union, she is unwilling to become trapped a second time.  Deeply in love, the couple soon settle into a cosy routine.  Gilles resume his work on a Parisian newspaper; Nathalie takes up a position with a travel agency.  They couldn't be happier - at first.  But then, gradually, boredom sets in and they begin to drift apart.

The passion soon goes out of the romance.  Gilles and Nathalie are still fondly attached to one another, but the magic has deserted them.  It is mostly habit, not desire, that keeps them together now.  Even though their feelings for one another have cooled, neither seems ready to end the affair just yet.  The final straw comes when Nathalie overhears Gilles in conversation with his friend Jean.  In no doubt that their affair was nothing more than a passing infatuation, Nathalie leaves her lover, more wounded than she can know.  The sudden departure of his partner is one blow that Gilles is ill-equipped to deal with.  It is in a state of desperation that he searches for her.  When he finally does find Nathalie he arrives too late...