My Night at Maud's - Characters & Cast

To secure a traditional, sanctified life (salvation) and avoid the chaos of unpredictable passion.

Starts as a lonely engineer confident in his rigid Catholic principles. He undergoes a test of faith/flesh at Maud's, which he "passes" by fleeing. He marries his "ideal" woman, Françoise, but the ending implies he must live with a lie to maintain his constructed happiness.

To find authentic connection and intellectual companionship without the pretense of social morality.

She begins as a confident, cynical woman of the world. Through the night, she exposes her vulnerability and desire for connection. She challenges Jean-Louis's hypocrisy but ultimately realizes they are incompatible due to his fear of life.

To reconcile his political ideology with the uncertainty of existence.

Functions as the bridge between Jean-Louis's piety and Maud's secularism. He tries to synthesize Marxism with Pascal's Wager, showing that even atheists rely on a form of faith in history.

To escape her past shame and find a respectable partner.

Initially presented as the silent, blonde ideal of Catholic purity. She later reveals she had an affair with a married man, shattering Jean-Louis's projection of her and revealing she is just as human and flawed as Maud.