Build a movie plot around this: Who is Lea's arch rival? Charlotte Peloux
A sumptuous dramatic comedy set in late 19th Century France, during the Belle Epoque, a period of social and cultural excess in European upper classes which ended only as the First World War erupted. (It is NOT set in 1920s as the IMDb synopsis says. After the war the social environment was quite, quite different.) Costumes, set pieces, cinematography all embrace the delicious and beautiful in this story of courtesans of a certain age whose lives, now more concerned with grown children and investments in oil rather than in men, live in great luxury and wealth. When (still ravishing) Pfeiffer becomes reacquainted with her erstwhile friend's 19 year son, (also incredibly ravishing), the two begin an often haunting, life long journey steeped in love, lust, jealousy and desire. They are soul mates and their story bites deep into the tragic and the hilarious.Direction, script and acting, by all major players and even the minor ones, are all first rate. Tastefully sexy and sensual, sad and lovely and funny all at once, a film to capture awards and hearts worldwide.It is turn of the century in Belle Epoque Paris and a scandalous romp is underfoot. The tale begins as the ravishing Lea contemplates retirement from her renowned stature as Paris's most envied seductress to the rich and famous. Her plans are cut short when she is approached by a former courtesan and arch rival, the barb-throwing gossip Charlotte Peloux, who encourages Lea to teach her disaffected 19 year-old son a thing or two about women. The resulting escapades involve power struggles over sex, money, age and society -- and unexpectedly, love itself -- as a boy who refuses to grow up collides with a woman who realizes she cannot stay young forever. [D-Man2010]