Jeanne Dandieu lives in a manor house with her parents and their servant Rosalie. She gets to know Julien, a handsome man, whom she soon marries. Her happiness, however, is short-lived. She soon finds out that not only has Julien married her for her money, but he also cheats on her.

Better known for his work as a film critic, Alexandre Astruc was nevertheless a talented filmmaker. With Une Vie, Astruc crafted a faithful adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s major novel, a carefully constructed period drama on the life of a woman tainted by her husband’s deception and infidelity.