Lady L

Lady L is a 1965 comedy film based on the novel by Romain Gary and directed by Peter Ustinov. Starring Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, David Niven and Cecil Parker, the film focuses on an elderly Corsican lady as she recalls the loves of her life, including an anarchist and a Parisian aristocrat.

The film had its World Premiere at the Empire, Leicester Square in the West End of London on 25 November 1965.

Plot

As she approaches her 80th birthday, the sophisticated and still attractive Lady Lendale recounts to her biographer, Sir Percy, the story of her life.

Fleeing her humble origins in Corsica, she traveled to Paris, where she found work in a brothel. There she falls in love with a thief and anarchist, Armand, and becomes pregnant by him. But before he can use a bomb to assassinate a Bavarian prince, she meets Lord Lendale, who is so enchanted by the young woman that he offers to overlook Armand's activities if she will agree to marry him.

Lady L becomes a woman of means, royalty and high society, and together she and Lord Lendale raise a large family. In the end, however, Lendale reveals their secret, that Lady L has continued to be the lover of Armand, who has fathered all their children while posing as the family's chauffeur.

Lady L (novel)

Lady L is a 1958 novel by the French writer Romain Gary. Gary wrote the book in English and translated it to French himself in 1963. Peter Ustinov directed a 1965 film with the same title based on the novel.

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References