A Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail.
An attractive woman going by the name Marguerite lives in Paris and is a courtesan, kept by the rich aristocrat Baron de Varville. When the handsome young Armand sees her for the first time, he immediately falls in love. Camille is not so easy as to fall for his charms immediately. She lives a comfortable life, after all. As she comes to have feelings for him, Armand's father intervenes asking her not to cast a shadow on his son's future prospects and she agrees. In her greatest time of need however, the loving Armand returns to her.—garykmcd
1847 Paris. From a humble, provincial background, Marguerite Gautier runs among the fast and loose crowd, she having amassed whatever finery from gentlemen callers, as well as having gone deep into debt. Within this situation, she is courted by two very different men. The first is Baron de Varville, a man she doesn't love or even really like, but who can not only keep her in the lifestyle to which she has been accustomed, but also pay off her massive debt load. The second is Armand Duval, a working stiff with little money who works in the foreign service, his ultimate professional goal to obtain a posting outside of France. Armand is a sincere, patient man who truly loves Marguerite, who in turn falls in love with him. What happens in this triangle is affected by some moral suasion in that name of love. But something that Marguerite suspects about her life may override all else in the matter.—Huggo
Marguerite is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Marguerite discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.—Jim Beaver <[email protected]>
1847 - In the gay half-world of Paris, the gentlemen of the day met the girls of the moment at certain theatre, balls and gambling clubs where the code was discretion ... but the game was romance. This is the story of one of those pretty creatures who lived on the quicksands of popularity - Marguerite Gautier, who brightened her wit with champagne, and sometimes her eyes with tears. From the novel of Alexandre Dumas fils this is the story which Giuseppe Verdi took for La Traviata.—Michael Crew <[email protected]>
Beautiful Marguerite Gautier (Greta Garbo) is a well- known courtesan, living in the demi-monde of mid-19th century Paris. Marguerite's dressmaker and procuress, Prudence Duvernoy (Laura Hope Crews), arranges an assignation at the theatre with a fabulously wealthy prospective patron, the Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell). Marguerite has never met the baron, and she briefly mistakes Armand Duval (Robert Taylor), a handsome young man of good family but no great fortune, for the baron. She finds Armand charming, but when the mistake is explained, she accepts the baron without hesitation.
Marguerite spends money carelessly, sometimes out of generosity, as when she bids a fortune on a team of horses in order to give an old coachman employment, but more often because she loves her lavish lifestyle and the late nights of dancing and drinking-and because she knows her days are numbered. She has consumption, which is a death sentence for anyone who lives as she does. She has bouts of severe illness, and during one spell, the only person who came to her door was Armand, bearing flowers (the baron contrived to be in England). She finds this out after she has recovered, and she invites him to her birthday party (the baron has just departed for a long stay in Russia.) During the party, Marguerite retreats into the bedroom with a coughing spell, and Armand follows, He professes his love, which is something she has never known. She gives him a key and tells him to send everyone home and come back later. While she is waiting for him, the baron returns unexpectedly. She orders Nanine to shoot the bolt on the door. The baron, who is clearly suspicious, plays the piano furiously, not quite masking the bell. He asks who might be at the door and, laughing, she says "The great romance of my life-That might have been."
At Armand's family home in the country, he asks his father for money to travel, to prepare for his career in the Foreign Service. He sends Marguerite a scathing letter (he saw the baron's carriage) but when she comes to his rooms they reconcile immediately. She sees a miniature of his mother and is amazed to learn that his parents have loved each other for 30 years. "You'll never love me 30 years," she says, sadly. "I'll love you all my life," he replies, and they embrace. Fadeout. Fade in to the two of them on the floor, Armand's head in her lap. He wants to take her to the country for the summer, to get well. She tells him to forget her but agrees in the end. However, she owes 40,000 francs, which must be paid. The baron gives her the money as a parting gift, and slaps her in the face when she kisses him in thanks.
Armand takes her to a house in the country; Marguerite thrives on fresh milk and eggs and country walks and love. A shadow is cast by the discovery that the baron's château is in the neighborhood. Marguerite tells him she has asked Prudence to sell everything, pay everything. "Never doubt that I love you more than the world." Armand asks her to marry him, but she declines.
The idyll ends when Armand's father (Lionel Barrymore) comes to the house and, acknowledging her love is real, begs Marguerite to turn away from his son, knowing her past will ruin his chances at a career or profession or place in society. When Armand returns to the house, she is cold and dismissive and tells him the baron is expecting her. He watches her walk over the hill.
Back in Paris, at a gambling club, Armand comes face to face with the baron and Marguerite, who is ill. Armand wins a fortune from the baron at Baccarat and begs Marguerite to come with him. She lies and says she loves the baron. Armand wounds the baron in a duel and must leave the country for six months. When he returns, Marguerite is deathly ill. "Perhaps it's better if I live in your heart, where the world can't see me," she says. She dies in his arms.
