Simplette (1919)
Directed by René Hervil

Film Synopsis

Marie Pasque leads a hard life in the country, the daughter of a rough and greedy farmer.  Her only true friend is her godmother Madame Rouvière, who hopes that one day she will marry her nephew Robert.  The latter is hardly the ideal partner for the pure and simple Marie.  A more egoistical and opportunistic individual it is hard to imagine, but when she dies Madame Rouvière insists that Robert will only inherit her wealth if he takes Marie as his wife.  The young man now finds himself in a terrible position.  He has nothing but contempt for the lowly Marie, having already lost his heart to another woman, a beautiful actress named Tania.  But he badly needs his inheritance to prevent his ailing company from going to the wall.

In the end, greed gets the better of Robert, so he marries Marie so that he can claim his aunt's fortune.  But as soon as he has taken receipt of the first half of his inheritance, Robert abandons his wife and returns to his beloved Tania.  Marie is naturally wounded by this rejection, but she still loves Robert and cannot bear to seem him ruined when his company runs into financial difficulty a second time.  With characteristic selflessness, she surrenders the second half of her godmother's estate to her husband in the hope that this will stave off bankruptcy.  Robert is so moved by his wife's act of generosity that he sees her in a completely different light.  Ashamed by how he has wronged her, he returns to Marie, but by now it is too late for him to seek her forgiveness...