Le Diable au corps (film)

Date: 1947

Region: Europe

Subject: Explicit Sexuality

Medium: Film Video


Artist: Claude Autant-Lara

Confronting Bodies: Official censors

Dates of Action: 1947

Location: France

Description of Artwork: The film is an adaptation of Raymond Radiguet's novel. An affair between an adolescent and the young wife of a soldier fighting on the front. This carefree adultery was considered extremely shocking at the time. A quarter of a century later, Radiguet's novel was still perceived as scandalous.

The Incident: France was slowly overcoming a murderous war, its veterans were revered, the adultery of a soldier's wife was intolerable.

Results of Incident: The director was forced to cut 20 minutes out of the total length of the 2 hour film.

Source: Jacques Duquesne, Libre parcours