Synopsis: Set in Paris in the 1880s, Renoir's light comedy mixes romance with politics in a film that stars Ingrid Bergman as Elena, an impoverished Polish princess. After the beautiful woman has walked out on her current lover, she watches a huge Bastille Day crowd cheering the heroic General Rollan... Set in Paris in the 1880s, Renoir's light comedy mixes romance with politics in a film that stars Ingrid Bergman as Elena, an impoverished Polish princess. After the beautiful woman has walked out on her current lover, she watches a huge Bastille Day crowd cheering the heroic General Rollan (Jean Marais). Also cheering the general, while admiring Elena, is Henri de Chevincourt (Mel Ferrer), another aristocrat of slender means. Resolved to abandon romance and marry for money, Elena accepts an invitation from the wealthy, if unattractive Michaud (Pierre Bertin) to a hunting party at his country house. There she meets Rollan, now Minister of War, and the two promptly fall in love. Rollan has been responding aggressively to a series of menacing maneuvers by the German government, a posture that is encouraged by the right-wing extremists who are hoping for a conflict that should lead the country to abandon its republican form of government. When Rollan realizes he's become a tool of this faction, he becomes disenchanted with politics. He also realizes that Elena loves the role he plays and not himself. When he leaves the country surreptitiously, will she join him? [More]