The Beautiful Person
2008 film directed by Christophe Honoré
The Beautiful Person (French: La Belle Personne) is a 2008 French teen comedy-drama film directed by Christophe Honoré from a screenplay he co-wrote with Gilles Taurand. It is a modernised adaptation of the 1678 French novel La Princesse de Clèves. Honoré was inspired to make the film after then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy repeatedly criticised the book as irrelevant in regard to modern life.
Originally intended as a television film, The Beautiful Person aired on Arte on 12 September 2008, ahead of its theatrical release in France on 17 September.
Plot
Following the death of her mother, 16-year-old Junie transfers to the school that her cousin Mathias attends. She instantly attracts the attention of several of her new classmates, especially the shy, sensitive Otto. In Italian class, a record of Maria Callas singing Lucia plays, which causes Junie to rush out crying, leaving her belongings behind. The teacher, Nemours, sees a photo of her taken by another student and swipes it. Afterwards, Nemours pursues her, even though she has mixed feelings about it. He is so enamored by her that he breaks off his relationships with Florence Perrin, a teacher, and Marie, a student.
The public source identifies “The Beautiful Person” as 2008 film directed by Christophe Honoré. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beautiful, Person and film.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Beautiful Person”, the useful work is to connect “2008 film directed by Christophe Honoré” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2455641. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 1678.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Beautiful Person”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Beautiful Person primary sources, The Beautiful Person archive and Beautiful research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Beautiful Person”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Beautiful Person” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.