Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company
Chronology
A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. (at around 12 mins) As Charlotte and Simon are visiting the Petit Palais Museum in Paris they pass by a Pierre Bonnard's painting.
Charlotte: Stop with this idea of “cheating on your wife”
Vincent Macaigne is featured in Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe (2023), a biopic devoted to Pierre and Marthe Bonnard.. Do you love her?Simon: Yes.Charlotte: Well, you’re not cheating on her.
Features Prizori iz bračnog života (1974)
We see each other for other reasons.. La JavanaiseMusic by Serge GainsbourgLyrics by Serge GainsbourgPerformed by Juliette Gréco(P)1963 Decca Records France with permission of Universal Music Publishing Film & TV©1962 & 1998 Warner Chappell Music France & Melody Nelson Publishing with permission of Warner Chappell Music France & Melody Nelson Publishing.
At the end of the day, the story returns to where it starts, like a full circle
"That said, it is Macaigne who hijacks the narrative in mid stream and profusely piques audience's curiosity and investment. His Simon is a cross section of today's mythopoetic man, rational, sensitive, bristling with cute foibles that can harm no one but embarrass himself, and Macaigne is a ball of neurosis, a windbag without pretension, hopelessly self-conscious of his gaucheness, yet he soldiers on with heartfelt effusions about true feelings and confusions.
Mouret's open-handed ending gladsomely suggests it might not be the last time they see each other"-
During another chance meeting, Simon nerves himself up to ask Charlotte to be his lover again, plus ça change, but one must hand it to him for his temerity and perseverance, even Charlotte seems impressed.