"Women's legs are like compass points, circling the globe and providing its balance and harmony."
—Bertrand Morane
The Man Who Loved Women (L'Homme qui aimait les femmes) is a 1977 French comedy-drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey, Nelly Borgeaud, Genevieve Fontanel, Nathalie Baye, and Leslie Caron.
Bertrand Morane (Denner) needs to seduce all the women he meets. For example, he is charmed by a woman he sees briefly getting into a car, so he writes down the licence plate number, he crashes his own car and tells his insurance company he had an accident with the car driven by the woman. Unfortunately, this woman actually lives in Canada and stayed briefly in France. But she is just one of the many women Bertrand tries to seduce.
An American remake of the same name, directed by Blake Edwards and starring Burt Reynolds, Julie Andrews, and Kim Basinger, was released in 1983.
The Man Who Loved Women provides examples of:
- Anachronic Order: The film starts with Bertrand's funeral, then it goes back to the point where Bertrand met a woman from Canada. Later, Bertrand decides to write a book and there are several Flashbacks about the events described in the book.
- Auto Erotica: Bertrand makes love with Delphine several times in his car.
- Book Ends: The film opens and ends with Bertrand's funeral.
- The Casanova: Even if Geneviève Bigey says that he is no Casanova, no Don Juan, Bertrand is a ladykiller who tries to seduce many women and is often successful. He does not become attached to the women he seduces. Actually, Geneviève meant that he is not a classical manly seducer.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: When she is walking in the street with Bertrand, Delphine tells him how sexy are the women, then she berates him for noticing them.
- The Determinator: Bertrand makes every effort to track down the women he is charmed by. For example, he crashes his own car and tells his insurance company that he had an accident with a car driven by the woman he is looking for.
- Disappeared Dad: Bertrand's mother raised him alone. His dad was absent.
- Foregone Conclusion: The film starts with Bertrand's funeral, so the viewer knows from start how the story ends.
- Framing Device: At some point, Bertrand decides to write a book and a large part of the film is made of Flashbacks about the events described in the book.
- The Hero Dies: The protagonist, Bertrand, dies in the end.
- How We Got Here: The film opens with Bertrand's funeral, which is attended only by women. Then it goes back to the point where Bertrand met a woman from Canada.
- Look Both Ways: In the end, Bertrand is hit by a car because he crossed a street without looking (he was following attractive women).
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Delphine is aroused by the fact they could get caught, so she has sex with Bertrand in many inappropriate places, like in Bertrand's car on the car park of a mall.
- Meaningful Funeral: The fact that there are only women at Bertrand's funeral tells a lot about his life.
- Metafictional Title: The Man Who Loved Women is the title of the book written In-Universe by Bertrand.
- Monochrome Past: The Flashbacks about Bertrand's teenage years are in black and white.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Bertrand starts writing a book about his life, then it gets it published.
- Mrs. Robinson: Hélène, who is 41, tells Bertrand that she is not attracted to him because he is too old. She confesses she is only attracted to young men.
- Nightmare Sequence: Bertrand dreams that Hélène puts up a dummy that looks like him in the window of her shop.
- The Noun Who Verbed: The title of the film (which is the same as the one of the book written In-Universe by Bertrand) is The Man Who Loved Women.
- Parental Neglect: Bertrand's mother had many lovers and she did not care about her son.
- Self-Deprecation: The criticism of the selection panel about Bertrand's book can be applied to the film itself, since it tells the same story as the book.
- Shout-Out: After Bertrand and Geneviève have breakfast in their hotel room, Geneviève puts the tray in the corridor and a kitten eats the leftovers on the tray. The same scene appeared in the fictional film that was the subject of Day for Night.
- Stalking is Love: The film gives a positive portrayal of Bertrand, who still uses questionable methods to track down the women that he finds attractive. For example, he writes down the licence plate number of a girl, then he tries to get her address, claiming that she has forgotten a camera in her car. Since this does not work, he crashes his own car and claims that he had an accident with the girl. Unfortunately, the car is owned by a car rental company, so he only gets the address of the company. Bertrand then goes to the car rental company to get the address of the girl. Ultimately, he finds out that the girl has left France and lives in Canada. Delphine, another woman that Bertrand tracks down similarly, is unfazed by the methods he used, and starts a relationship with him.
- A Threesome Is Hot: When she goes out of jail, Delphine goes to Bertrand's flat. Bertrand is having sex with Bernadette. They end up having a threesome.
