The Grand Maneuver (French: Les Grandes Manœuvres) is a 1955 French-Italian romantic film directed by René Clair.
In 1913 France, Armand de la Verne (Gérard Philippe) is a cavalry officer stationed at a small town. He is notorious for his romantic conquests and juggles several women at any given time. He makes a bet with his regiment that he can make any woman fall in love with him before they have to leave in one month on maneuvers. To this end, he sets his sights on the newcomer Marie-Louise Rivière (Michèle Morgan), a recent divorcee who feels reluctant to give in to any amorous attentions, though she can't help feeling attracted to Armand all the same. Meanwhile, Armand's friend Félix Leroy (Yves Robert) has a subterfuge-free romance of his own with the daughter of a photographer, Lucie (Brigitte Bardot).
Tropes:
- The Bet: Armand bets with his fellow officers that he can seduce any girl he wants before his regiment leaves on maneuvers in a month. The object of this bet becomes recent divorcee Marie-Louise, whom Armand ends up falling for for real.
- Beta Couple: Armand and Marie-Louise's courtship (product of a bet she's not aware of) is contrasted with Felix and Lucie's simpler, open and sincere romance.
- Dance of Romance: Armand shares a romantic dance with Marie-Louise at a ball and absconds with her to a shadowy corner where they have their first kiss.
- Good-Looking Privates: A friend of Armand's says the women are only attracted to the cavalry officers for their uniforms, not for themselves.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Armand's superior scolds him for his dalliance with Marie-Louise and provoking the ire of Duverger, her suitor. He rants that he doesn't want to hear anything more about that or about his own wife, upon which she cheerfully walks in, asking if he called.
- Ladykiller in Love: Armand sleeps around and is proud of his many romantic conquests, but falls for Marie-Louise for real and intends to marry her.
- Ten Paces and Turn: Armand insults Felix over wanting to marry Lucie. Felix demands that they duel each other with guns at dawn. In the duel, the two walk several paces away from each other and shoot their guns in turns, with Armand purposely firing all his shots into the air until Felix scores a hit.
