What was Nicole hiding?
From the very beginning she knew that Pierre was married. When he decided to divorce his wife Nicole suddenly changed. What was she up to? Besides, I doubt that the man came to visit was her father. What do you think?
shareWell... Nicole didn't hide anything. The man who came visit her indeed was her father. Why did she change her attitude? It wasn't "suddenly" al all. It took some time for Nicole, an intelligent, sensitive woman, to reveal the true self of the "soft-skin" man Pierre - his coarseness, unrestrained self-indulgence, total lack of a genuine feelings (Pierre mistook his hostility to his wife as a love for Nicole), hidden behind his vulnerable, pensive facade.
In the beginning, I think, Nicole was flattered and touched by highbrow Pierre's affection toward her, the lower-class girl. After an inevitable dissapointments that followed she made her firm and painful decision to leave Pierre.
That's my opinion.
Listen to your enemy, for God is talking
Outside the bed, could they ever be compatible? Though sweet, her conversation is trivial and she could never have joined the discussion in Parisian intellectual circles. To the world, would she be anything more than a pretty bimbo the celebrated writer and TV personality had picked up in a hotel?
shareNo arguments, you're perfectly right.
Still, the "average", "common" people ("pretty bimbo") are complicate and unpredictable, like everybody; but even the finest education and the "membership" into intellectual circles doesn't make one any better, if he's unaffectionate and spiritually apathetic (but everything he wants should be "served" for him immediately!). Isn't that true?
Listen to your enemy, for God is talking
His faults led to the loss of his lover, his wife and his daughter, and finally his life. His wife has lost her husband and will probably stand trial for her life. Nicole still has her job to do and her life ahead of her so, though bruised, doesn’t this make her the only winner?
shareLet's call it - she survived. Nicole didn't win anything. We will not know how would she feel after learning about Pierre's fate. Nicole wasn't saint at all but I suppose she would endure the hard feeling of guilt and remorse - for all her life ahead of her, for she wasn't that bad. Don't you think?
Listen to your enemy, for God is talking
[deleted]
Woe to the woman who gets involved with Pierre. In today's parlance, I wonder if Pierre had a touch of Aspergers. He was a successful, entitled intellectual who could not emotionally read the women he was closest to. He had a low Emotional Intelligence.
He ditches Franca, his wife of 15 years, without giving her a clue as to why. Then, he shows Nicole the new apt & she comments that he hasn't even mentioned marriage. Worse is that he ditches Franca before he seals the deal with Nicole, which leaves him in No Man's Land: that's pretty stupid for an intellectual.
I don't sense malice per se on Pierre's part, more like arrogance, entitlement, cluelessness & carelessness.
Trippetta and Bon,
Good points. The bit in the restaurant where Pierre complains about Nicole talking too loud was a key event, in large part because it brought to a head any concerns Nicole might have, probalby did have by then, about how Pierre saw her outside of for sex. The point about low emotional IQ does not require an Asperger's diagnosis, heh, but certainly he projected his wishes and own perception onto what he thought and felt that others would see and think.
The situation when he brought Nicole to the apartment under construction was very interesting. There had been no prior discussion of going in that direction, yet Pierre obviously concluded it was where HE wanted their relationship to go. He projected his own view onto what he thought and felt Nicole wanted, not recognizing that by then she was feeling much doubt about the future of their relationship even simply as lovers. That level was greatly injured by the business of her feeling excluded from his presentation in Reims.
He also misreads his wife when she first accuses him of probable infidelity. By then he no doubt felt smug about having gotten away with all he had, and may have been surprised by the accusation. Yet he took a huge chance going to Reims, and on some level must have recognized he overplayed his hand. He responds with blanket denial and then, with apparently nothing thought out in advance, walks out essentially declaring the marriage over. Despite still having some love for her.
One might be tempted to conclude the whole thing was too over the top, but we know people do stupid things in such situations. Pierre wanted to believe Nicole was not only right for him, but he was right for her, and not for the set of reasons we understand she was attracted to him initially. He was attractive to her because of his image and social standing, not for who he was intrinsically. Once Nicole saw she could not be his other half in terms of his social image and standing, they were doomed.