Le Secret du Chevalier d'Éon 
Jacqueline Audry 1959

80x120cm

French poster (Journal Éclair re-release) Unsigned Folded Condition A-

Diplomat, officer, and secret agent of the "Secret du Roi," Charles d’Éon de Beaumont remains one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of the 18th century. An exceptional swordsman and scholar, they forged an international espionage career, playing a decisive role in France's alliances with Russia and England. Their existence was defined by a singular duality of identity: having lived forty-nine years as a man and thirty-two as a woman, they fueled the most fervent speculations of the era. In 1777, by order of Louis XVI, they definitively adopted feminine attire, presenting themselves at the Court of Versailles as Mademoiselle d’Éon. Despite this constraint, their virtuosity in fencing remained untouched, as evidenced by their famous victorious duel against the Chevalier de Saint-George in 1787. It was only upon their passing in London that their biological male sex was officially confirmed by a medical report.

A pioneering filmmaker, Jacqueline Audry established herself as the sole female director of feature fiction films in immediate post-war France. Following a decade of technical training under masters such as Max Ophüls and Jean Delannoy, she directed her debut film in 1945. Her body of work stands out for its preference for literary adaptations, bringing the texts of Colette, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Victor Margueritte to the screen with notable commercial success. Resolvingly feminist, her filmography explores female independence and desire through portraits of women frequently at odds with the conventions of their time. Although associated with the "French Quality" aesthetic, she was awarded the Grand Prix du cinéma français for her film Bitter Fruits (Fruits amers) in 1967. She remains a major figure of 20th-century French cinema, having shattered the institutional barriers of an industry that was, at the time, almost exclusively male.