letter. The film ends with Antoine sitting in his favourite café, writing away. An attractive young woman on her own is looking interestedly at him, but he is oblivious. Cast Fabrice Luchini as Antoine Judith Henry as Catherine Maurice Garrel as Jean Marie Bunel as Solange François Toumarkine as Manu Brice Beaugier as Solange's friend Yvette Petit as Baker's wife Nicole Félix as Monique Olivier Achard as Customer Serge Riaboukine as Cafe waiter Katia Popova as Girl in cafe Amy Laviètes as Ewa Hélène Hardouin as Catherine's friend Maria Verdi as Woman in restaurant Pierre Gérald as Scientist Sophie Broustal as Girl in pink Background In the late 1980s, Christian Vincent did research on 18th century women's fashion. It was intended for a collective film project for which he was to direct a sketch. In the 18th century, women were wearing little patches, made of a piece of taffeta, to set off the paleness of their skin. Those fake moles, glued to the skin, were known as "mouches." The project failed to materialize but it gave the filmmaker the idea for his first feature. The film title refers to the nickname that Antoine gives Catherine because of the mole on her chin. As he explains, in the 18th-century fashion code, such mole was called "discreet." Production Producer Alain Rocca founded his company, Les Productions Lazennec, as a workshop for young film-school graduates. The first feature film, Love without Pity, that Rocca produced in 1989, was a critical success, and won a César Award for Best First Feature Film. La Discrète was his second project, with the modest budget of 11.24 million francs ($2.2 million). The script was written by Christian Vincent who worked on it for more than a year with co-writer Jean-Pierre Ronssin. The writers were not paid for this work until the film was in production. The leading roles were given to relatively unknown actors: Fabrice Luchini and Judith Henry. The production went rather smoothly, and the film came in under budget. The actual cost was 10.46 million francs ($1.97 million). Release The film was released in France on November 21, 1990, sold 1.4 million tickets, and became the 20th most watched film of the year. It didn't do well at the U.S. box-office, where it earned only $100,000 in 1992, and failed to recover even its promotional costs. Critical reception The film received wide critical acclaim. The