Tag Archives: maitresse

Maîtresse (1976)

Ariane (Bulle Ogier) is a dominatrix who falls in love with Olivier (Gérard Depardieu), a thief. She lives in an elegant apartment and has an expensive lifestyle. In her bathroom, for example, we can see a flacon montre by Guerlain.

From the black front sticker [1] it’s easy to tell what cologne the bottle contains: it’s Liu. Originally created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1929, it was marketed as cologne in 1956.

Later in the film, another flacon montre can be seen in Ariane’s bedroom. The black sticker tells us again this is Liu. In front of it there’s another perfume bottle: it’s Karl Lagerfeld Chloé.

The Betty Busse creation, launched in 1975, is presented in the signature bottle topped by a couple of calla lilies. This apparently unusual choice (can you think of a dominatrix wearing such a delicate white floral fragrance?) has an explanation: Karl Lagerfeld designed the costumes for the film, so he didn’t miss the chance to advertise his most recent perfume with a cameo.

In the closing credits it’s clearly stated that Bulle Ogier wore Chloé.

[1] The screencap is not HD, so I’m not 100% sure the front sticker is black. It looks kind of purplish, right? If it actually were purplish, the fragrance would be Jicky.

Thanks to reveur_etc for the Chloé id.