Odette Toulemonde

The title character (Catherine Frot) is a forty-year-old saleswoman, saddled with two children (an adolescent daughter and a hairdresser son), who spends her days hawking cosmetics from behind the counter of a Parisian department store.

Odette has absolutely no reason to feel limitless joy or to retain a bright, positive outlook on life, but experiences both - thanks in no small part to the novels of her favorite author, Balthazar Balsan (Albert Dupontel). Meanwhile, Balsan ostensibly has everything - money, fame, success - and yet feels unbridled emptiness inside. These two lives suddenly intersect and complement each other in fantastic and unexpected ways.

Catherine Frot was nominated for Best Actress at the Cesar Awards for her role in this film.

"A Charmer! An adorable slice of magical realism that thumbs its cinematic nose at the intelligentsia." - Variety