L'Homme Qui Aimait Les Femmes (aka The Man Who Loved Women) (1977)

At a funeral attended only by women, in flashback we look back at the life of a middle aged man (Charles Denner) who was obsessed with the female sex. Never able to commit to one woman, he keeps seeking the feminine perfection which, of course, he'll never find. Directed by Francois Truffaut (JULES AND JIM), time has not been kind to this frustrating film. It isn't light enough for a comedy (it lacks charm) but not serious enough for a drama. Today, Denner's character comes across as a stalker who'll go to extreme lengths to track down a woman he's never met. He objectifies women, the world is a huge supermarket and he shops for them as he would for produce like melons or grapefruit. The movie does hint that there might be something wrong with his psyche and that the world is changing and objectification like his may no longer be tolerated in the future. Inexplicably, Blake Edwards thought it was a good idea to make an English language version of this in 1983. With Leslie Caron, Brigitte Fossey, Nelly Borgeaud, Genevieve Fontanel, Jean Daste and Nathalie Baye (voice only as a switchboard operator).