Design for Living

Hugely controversial at the time of its release for its frank discussions of sexual behaviour, Lubitsch’s loose adaptation of Noël Coward’s Broadway play proved a notable box office success and is now regarded as a classic of Hollywood’s pre-Code era. Split between Paris, London and New York, it sees a charming girl-of-fortune meeting and falling in love with two handsome Americans: a struggling painter and his best friend, an equally unsuccessful playwright. Unable to choose between her two suitors, the trio enters into a platonic three-way relationship with predictably calamitous, yet often hilarious, results.