Highlight of Week: Avec Plaisir: Ceremonies of Love & Desire

New York, N.Y. France's most notorious dominatrix, 85-year-old Catherine Robbe-Grillet , makes a rare appearance at FIAF for the first talk of our Sex and Seduction series.

Get a fascinating glimpse inside the secret ceremonies and sadomasochistic rites of Madame and her companion/submissive Beverly Charpentier through film excerpts and a talk moderated by author and journalist Toni Bentley.

Get a glimpse inside the secret ceremonies and sadomasochistic rites of France’s most notorious dominatrix. A screening of provocative highlights from La Cérémonie and Le Contrat , Lina Mannheimer’s documentaries about Catherine Robbe-Grillet , will be followed by a rare appearance by Madame herself.

The modern-day Marquise de Sade and Beverly Charpentier —the woman who gave up her freedom to serve her—will talk with author and journalist Toni Bentley about their love, friendship, and rituals.

The Art of Sex and Seduction series is curated by writer and journalist Erica Lumière.

The Art of Sex & Seduction

Wed, Oct 7 at 7pm

In English

Followed by book signings

Must be 18+

Buy Tickets • Buy Package*

French Institute Alliance Française ( FIAF )

French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York. FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression.

Founded at the turn of 20th century, the French Institute and the Alliance Française de New York operated as two separate organizations, the first promoting French arts, the second teaching French. In 1971 they merged to form what has become one of the largest and most respected centers of French-American activities in the U.S: the French Institute Alliance Française.

Located at 22 East 60th Street between Park and Madison Avenues on New York City’s Upper Eastside, our beautiful Beaux Arts building is reminiscent of the architecture of Haussmann Paris. Over 6000 students learn French at our Language Center, New York's leading center for French language.

The Haskell Library is the most comprehensive private French library in the United States. The 400-seat Florence Gould Hall Theater, where we present LIVE performing arts events and New York’s only year-round French cinema series CinéSalon; Tinker Auditorium where we present culinary, literary, and other cultural events; the dramatic penthouse space, Le Skyroom (featuring a demonstration kitchen) where we present exclusive Art de Vivre events; and the recently opened FIAF Gallery ensure FIAF’s place as a vibrant cultural force for New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds.

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