Miramax Films

In "Cheri," wealthy courtesan Lea de Lonval is lured into a dalliance with a young man 30 years her junior — and the two fall in love.

In "Cheri," the visually sumptuous new film by director Stephen Frears, the courtesan Lea de Lonval is rich from years of using her beauty and sexual prowess to separate wealthy men from their money.

She looks forward to comfortable retirement in belle epoque France. Instead, she is lured into a dalliance with the son of her friend Charlotte, herself a retired courtesan.

The insolent and rather directionless young man, named Fred but called Cheri by nearly everyone, is 30 years Lea's junior. The win-win expectation is that he will emerge from the affair wiser in the ways of the world and Lea will go out at the top of her game.

Ah, but they underestimate the heart part of affairs of the heart. Not even jaded sophisticates, it seems, are immune to the missiles of Cupid.

"Cheri" is based on two novels by the popular French writer Colette, who died at 81 in 1954. She was known not only for her stories but for behavior that was scandalous even in France. It included a democratic willingness to take lovers of either gender.

The screenplay for "Cheri" was distilled from Colette's books by British playwright Christopher Hampton. Cinematography of the lavish sets and costumes was by Darius Khondji.

Lea is played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who ably blends the pride and vulnerability of a woman who has succeeded in her line of work but probably is past her prime by conventional measures -- kind of how 50-ish Hollywood actresses such as Pfeiffer must feel when the best roles start going to younger competitors.

Playing opposite Pfeiffer is the British actor Rupert Friend, who looks a little old for the part but delivers convincingly as a rake blindsided by genuine love. He and Pfeiffer are aided by an obvious chemistry between them.

Cathy Bates, as the scheming matchmaker Charlotte, fails to register as more than a caricature of that character type. In Bates' defense, the script burdens her with a number of uninspired remarks along the line of "that boy will be the death of me."

To everyone's astonishment, the affair between Cheri and Lea lasts six years and matures from dalliance into devotion. It ends only when the wily Charlotte engineers a new twist into the story.

That is when Lea and Cheri rediscover their early belief that love has no place in their cynical world. If allowed to slip in, it can have painful consequences.