Character Relationship Map: The Devil and the Ten Commandments

Characters

• Françoise Beaufort (played by Françoise Arnoul) — supporting

  Françoise is a married woman and Micheline’s friend who becomes tempted by a beautiful necklace. To obtain it, she succumbs to Philip, her friend’s wealthy husband, and hides the necklace. Her husband...

• Clarisse Ardan (played by Danielle Darrieux) — supporting

  Clarisse is a celebrated stage actress and Pierre’s biological mother, though he initially visits her as an unknown young man. She tries to seduce him before learning the truth, then remains flirtatio...

• Pierre Messager (played by Alain Delon) — supporting

  Pierre is a medical student approaching his twenty-first birthday who has a strained relationship with Marcel and Germaine. After learning that Clarisse is his biological mother, he visits her and wit...

• Germaine Messager (played by Madeleine Robinson) — supporting

  Germaine is Pierre’s shrewish mother and one half of the couple who raised him. Her relationship with Pierre is tense before Marcel reveals that Clarisse is his biological mother. After Pierre becomes...

• Micheline Allan (played by Micheline Presle) — supporting

  Micheline is Philip’s wife and Françoise’s friend. Françoise’s desire for a beautiful necklace leads her into an affair with Philip, but the necklace is later found by Françoise’s husband and given to...

• Philip Allan (played by Mel Ferrer) — supporting

  Philip is a wealthy married man who becomes involved with Françoise, the friend of his wife Micheline. Françoise succumbs to him because she wants a beautiful necklace. His affair therefore drives the...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Pierre Messager → Clarisse Ardan (Family Biological Mother) — Reunion with his birth mother reveals her manipulative and flirtatious nature.
• Pierre Messager → Germaine Messager (Family Mother) — Difficult maternal relationship marked by friction and misunderstanding.
• Philip Allan → Micheline Allan (Family Husband) — Married couple where Philip engages in infidelity.
• Françoise Beaufort → Philip Allan (Romantic Lover) — An illicit affair driven by material desire and temptation.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Françoise Beaufort → Micheline Allan (Social Friend) — Close friends whose bond is tested by Françoise's affair with Micheline's husband.

Story Analysis

An anthology of moral reversals explores guilt, temptation, revenge, faith, deception, and the unpredictable consequences of human choices.

Plot Progression

1. Warnings And Temptations — The opening stories contrast a threatened convent worker with a chain of romantic temptation surrounding a valuable necklace. Personal weakness produces both danger and an unexpected act of generosity...
2. Vengeance And Retribution — A former religious novice abandons his order to avenge his sister. His secret weapon turns the confrontation into a fatal trap, while prior police notification ensures the shooter's arrest.
3. The Stranger At The Farm — A mysterious stranger claiming to be God visits an isolated farm. He restores a pretended invalid's mobility, comforts a dying woman, and is finally located by psychiatric nurses.
4. The Empty Suitcase — A dissatisfied bank cashier becomes entangled in a robbery and pursues the thief. Their apparent bargain collapses into absurdity when the suitcase contains food rather than money.