My first from this Spanish director noted for his erotic films and, while this element is certainly at the forefront of his preoccupations here, it is presented in a generally restrained and tasteful way.The film's plot is an interesting, even original one: in 1912, a happily-married but poor French mine-worker wins a race and the once-in-a-lifetime prize he receives is to witness the historic launching of the ill-fated "Titanic". In the hotel where he stays for one night, he ends up sharing his room with a beautiful young girl who tells him that she will be working as a chambermaid on the ship. When he returns home - and especially after learning of the tragedy that befell the "Titanic" - he becomes obsessed with his memory of the girl and, to appease his curious and envious colleagues, he concocts stories of their various sexcapades in the hotel, on the docks and even aboard the ship itself! Of course, his devoted wife is not pleased when she learns about this (despite rumors that she had been unfaithful with her husband's boss in his absence!) but soon changes her mind when she realizes that the tall stories her husband tells in the local bar are turning a profit and have also made him something of a celebrity! In fact, they are subsequently visited by a traveling showman who specializes in tragic love stories revolving around historical calamities (such as the eruption of Vesuvius at the time of the Roman Empire) who proposes to take the couple under his wing, with the promise that the husband's monologues will eventually play in front of a wide audience in theatre houses across the country. And, as in every fable, it all comes true - except that one day the chambermaid, who is alive and well and not as pure as the husband professes, attends one of his performances...The twist ending is delightful, taking the plot's aura of fantasy, romance and nostalgia as far as it can go. Indeed, the entire film was a pleasant surprise for me and I will surely be renting on DVD two of the director's more typical 'carnal comedies' - THE AGES OF LULU (1990) and JAMON, JAMON (1992) - somewhere down the line...

As a new Olivier Martinez fan, I have clamored to get my hands on most of everything he's done. I bought this movie through Amazon.com along with 'Mon Homme' and 'The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone.'Anyway, this movie was very different from the very famous 'Titanic' movie made in 1997, as well. The story begins as Horty (Martinez) wins some kind of contest from his boss and he gets a free ticket to South Hampton to watch the Titanic set sail. When he arrives in South Hampton, he goes to the hotel he is staying at and is shown to his room. Suddenly, this chambermaid from the Titanic comes to his door and tells him that she has no where to stay and asks if she could sleep in his room for just the one night. Horty reluctantly, if I remember correctly that is, offers his room and his bed to the chambermaid while he tries to sleep in the chair. After they both settle down, she invites him into the bed just to sleep. He has this romantic dream about her, but when he wakes up she is already gone. He goes outside to watch the Titanic set sail, and sees that a photographer is taking her picture. After she walks away, he goes up to this photographer and asks to have her picture. When he comes home, his friends want to know what happened while he was there. He tells them that the chambermaid, named Marie, stayed in his room for the night. Obviously they were intrigued, and wouldn't believe that nothing happened between them. So, Horty gives in and starts to tell this elaborate story, making it up as he goes along. His wife overhears his stories, and believes that he cheated on her. He tells her that everything is made up and nothing happened. He eventually finds out that that Titanic sank, and figures Marie must have died. Somehow, this acting troupe comes along and wants Horty to make it into a play because he stories about the chambermaid named Marie are so popular in the town he lives in. He and his wife decide to go along and do it, because they need the money. One night as he's about to tell the story, he realizes that this person, Marie, is in the audience! I'll have to stop here, so I won't spoil it for you...This movie is a very good movie, and worth watching! It's not really even about the Titanic, the ship is in the details, but really its about Horty's fantasies about what could have happened the night he spent with a chambermaid named Marie.

This collaboration between France and Italy is simply a very original movie, with a scrip of a great intelligence. We don't really know if Olivier Martinez is telling lies, but like the people who listen to him, we want to hear him and believe him. And like in a great short story of litterature, we know the true at the end, but the director told us, in a little part, that it's not really sure... The idea of shows in little theatres, by the last half of the film, is simply brillant. I have study the reaction of people with melodrama at this time of the 20th century, and we saw that in this filmexactly like it was in the early 1910's. This is truly a wonderful movie.

This was an excellent movie & one of the funniest I've ever seen. I'm not the biggest Luna fan, but this was a great story with really good acting, too. The actress who played Zoe did a great job with a tough role.