In this acclaimed but controversial film, the Drouots and their real-life children portray an idyllically happy family residing in the suburbs of Paris. The artisan husband decides to increase their happiness by incorporating his young mistress (Boyer) into the family unit. An ensuing tragedy is followed by a strange resumption of happiness. Opulently photographed in Impressionist tones by the cinematographer of Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg and set to strains of Mozart, the film was a major hit of the 1960s French New Wave and took the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. And yet its portrait of boundless joy continues to disturb. In Varda’s words, it is “a beautiful fruit that tastes of cruelty.”