A delicious dalliance from Jean Renoir (1959), this satirical comedy about a stuffy scientist (Paul Meurisse) campaigning for the presidency of a united Europe on a platform promoting artificial insemination for everyone accidentally meets Catherine Rouvel in the country, and his idealism gets unwound. Adapting the TV shooting techniques of his previous film, The Testament of Dr. Cordelier, and using ravishing color, Renoir manages to inject an uncommon amount of feeling into all the frivolity and whimsy; the results are both absurdist and sublime. (JR)