La Grande Breteche story

owgm1x04 · 1973-09-22

A Spanish officer, captured by the French during the Peninsular War, is imprisoned near the country house of an elderly aristocrat with a bored young wife - whose lover he becomes, with deadly consequences. Directed by: Peter Sasdy. Story by: Martin Worth, based on the story by Honoré de Balzac.

11 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 4 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
honor	choice	Two points of honor were at the center of the plot and alluded to in the intro by Orson Welles. Josephine swore falsely on the cross and before God that there was no one in her closet. The Spanish officer was bound only by his word of honor to stay in the town where he was held.
extramarital affair	major	Josephine was bored with her husband, Count Gerard de Merret, and embarked on an extramarital affair with the captured Spanish officer (who was never named).
husband and wife	major	Josephine was bored with her husband, Count Gerard de Merret, and embarked on an extramarital affair with the captured Spanish officer (who was never named).
infatuation	major	Josephine was besotted with the Spanish officer and was beside herself with grief after her husband walled the officer up in the closet to die of privation.
life in late modern France	major	The story imagines what life might have been like in rural France around 1808-1814 and the Peninsular War with Spain.
romantic jealousy	major	Count Gerard de Merret, after very nearly catching his wife in flagrante delicto, produced a callous plot to rid himself of her lover.
sacred oath	major	At a key juncture in the story, Josephine swore falsely on the cross and before God that there was no one in her closet.
communicating with someone who speaks a different language	minor	It was a noted point that the Spanish officer couldn't communicate well with the French locals.
having a skeleton in the closet	minor	The epilogue of the story makes clear that Josephine ended up with the literal skeleton of her Spanish lover in her closet.
historical event	minor	The story is set in France while the 1808-1814 war with Spain raged. It concerned a captured Spanish officer. [The Peninsular War]