Actually, the plot summary above is a little misleading. We know nothing at all about the man except what the women say, so the actual motives for his departure are not known- he gives different reasons to each of them. The letter claiming unworthiness and the attribution of cowardice is the Russian version; the Englishwoman claims that he is dominant and has immense power of will and we see him dominating her and others. Symbolically perhaps (Morand who wrote the story was a French nationalist) the letter to the French peasant girl gives a possibility of his return. Nor- given that the stories are recounted in hindsight- do we know whether he conducted the affairs in succession or at once. Finally there is the end, when we are told that an "I"- the narrator/film-maker heard the stories from the women. With Pearl- the Englishwoman- and Athalie- the sculptor- we see them talking to father figures about their lover. In each case, the father figure is a different man, so there is yet another layer of doubt here. The plot, of course, is irrelevant except as an excuse for virtuoso technique and there it serves perfectly. What we have here is an exercise in silent film-making and narrative technique at the pinnacle of its achievement. As well as the possible connection with Resnais, I wonder if this film- or the book- inspired an aspect of Tavernier's La Vie et Rien de Plus. Both of the leading women in that film were married or engaged to the same man without knowing it- a definite echo of this plot.
Review of La glace à trois faces
