Nouvelle Vague 1990

La Contessa Elena Torlato-Favrini, Domiziana Giordano, a wealthy Italian industrialist, presides over a sprawling estate by Lake Geneva in Switzerland. She is cared for by Jules the Gardener, his wife Yvonne, their daughter Cécile, the chauffeur Laurent, and a mysterious Della La Rue (or Della Street), a nod to Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason stories. At the outset, Elena takes a solitary drive and meets Roger Lennox, an apparent drifter who has been forced off the road. Elena offers him a hand, and he accepts, an encounter that feels almost fateful and sets the stage for what follows.

Roger Lennox, an attentive and devoted companion, becomes Elena’s kept man, a presence who adores her and dutifully attends to her needs as part of her inner circle. The entourage includes Elena’s lawyer Raoul Dorfman, Raoul’s girlfriend, the Doctor (one of Elena’s shareholders), and the Doctor’s wife, Dorothy Parker, a writer like her namesake. Christophe Odent brings to life Raoul Dorfman, and Laure Killing portrays Dorothy Parker, anchoring the circle with a mix of business interests and personal tension. Elena’s secretary, the sharp-eyed Laurence Côte, also keeps Elena’s world in order as the dynamics between power, love, and ambition begin to unravel.

As the days unfold, both Elena and Roger grow restless with the arrangement. Elena and her entourage circumnavigate the lake, and a motorboat trip becomes a turning point: Elena asks to swim, but Roger, who cannot swim, steps back. In a moment mirroring their first encounter on land, Roger falls into the water while Elena returns to the boat. She watches him slip away to death without offering help, a choice that starkly foreshadows the leveling of power that follows.

A new crisis erupts when a man who looks exactly like Roger appears, calling himself Richard Lennox and claiming to be Roger’s brother. He knows details of the boating incident and uses that knowledge to pressure Elena into loosening her grip on a company and her own fate. The once docile Lennox becomes calculating and aggressive, and Elena’s posture shifts accordingly; she becomes more compliant in the face of this new threat, even as she remains the person in charge.

The struggle comes to a head in a dramatic recapitulation of the boating scene. This time, Lennox takes control of the boat—a rowboat—while Elena slips into the water again. At first, Richard Lennox seems indifferent to Elena’s danger, but when she sinks, he reaches out and saves her hand. The reversal is subtle but decisive: Elena recognizes that Richard Lennox is the same man as Roger Lennox, “the same, but different.” The dynamic of control has shifted, with Richard asserting a stronger grip on Elena’s affairs, yet Elena maintains authority over the ultimate decisions.

In the climactic turn, Richard arranges to sell the estate for a substantial sum, altering the balance of power once more. Elena, however, does not retreat; she faces the new arrangement with renewed determination and a sense of partnership. The final image is one of an uneasy equilibrium: Elena and Richard drive away together, suggesting a future where they navigate adventures as equals, each aware of their shared past and the possibilities of what lies ahead.

The story remains intimate in its focus on relationships—between Elena and her loyal circle, between Roger and Elena, and between Elena and the enigmatic Richard Lennox. It weaves themes of wealth, control, desire, and the price of independence, all set against the serene yet unpredictable backdrop of a lakeside estate. The characters move through a landscape where appearances can be deceiving, loyalties shift, and power can be both protected and challenged by those who sit closest to the throne.