Father Birotteau and Father Troubert, both of whom are priests at Tours, have separate lodgings in the house belonging to the crabby spinster Sophie Gamard in that city. Birotteau is an other-worldly, gentle, introspective type; Troubert, who is ten years younger than his fellow boarder, is very much of the world: he is a careerist devoured by ambition.
Acting
Michel Bouquet's smiling menace will haunt your dreams.
Writing
Balzac's dialogue adapted with surgical precision.
Direction
Gabriel Axel finds horror in lace curtains and parlour games.
Director
Gabriel Axel
Jean Carmet
L'abbé Birotteau
Michel Bouquet
L'abbé Troubet
Micheline Boudet
Madame de Listomère
Reine Bartève
Marianne
Roland Bertin
Chapeloud
Suzanne Flon
Mlle Gamard
Sébastien Floche
Le bedeau
Janine Souchon
Mme Fontanges
Nicole Desailly
Mlle Pinsard
Nicolas Silberg
Hubert de Listomère
Alain Mottet
M. de Bourbonne
Nadine Basile
Mlle Vineuil
Jean-Simon Prévost
Le valet Baptiste
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gabriel Axel later directed 'Babette's Feast' (1987), making this his other great film about appetite—here for power, not food.
Balzac's 1832 novella was considered too scandalous for its portrait of church careerism; Axel made it during a brief window when French television funded literary adaptations.
FR
