One of the last great works of the silent cinema, Au bonheur des dames was French director Julien uvivier’s stylish screen adaptation of the novel by Emile Zola, about an orphaned girl who moves to Paris and goes to work for her family’s rival, the glamorous department store named Au bonheur des dames. Duvivier, director of some sixty-five films made over the course of a fifty-year career, became one of the most acclaimed practitioners of French poetic realism through such works as Pépé Le Moko and Carnet de bal. This restored film will be accompanied by a live performance of the internationally renowned ensemble Octuor de France, under the direction of celebrated Canadian pianist and composer Gabriel Thibaudeau.