The inspiration for three films iseveral operas, this classic of French literature is set in Regency Paris wLouisiana around 1720. A tragic love story, it's also an epic adventure story with three infidelities, three escapes, three abductions atwo murders. The action spans two continents aa social range extending from the aristocracy to the social outcast, from pillars of the establishment to pimps tprostitutes. Manon Lescaut's ambiguous love story has a transcendent significance: Is it a cautionary tale, warning of the dangers to which passion, blindly followed, can lead? Or does it illustrate the redemptive power of love? After all, Des Grieux's perseverance in his devotion to Manon eventually brings about a profound change of heart in her eseems to make possible a lasting happiness based on deep mutual affection. The ambiguity persists to the end, when death snatches that happiness away.
