The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Good production value and a worthy cast hardly prevent that the result is only vaguely compelling and somewhat sterile.
Maltin**: "...but this costume dramma...goes awry...Bates stretches patience as Chéri's mother, but Pfeiffer still has enough aging luminosity to suggest what the movie might have been."
