Léa cheerfully kicks him out of her home but makes Chéri promise to always be gentle and kind with Edmée and to try to give her a good life.

While out on the town with a friend, Chéri tries opium and cocaine, and on his way back he notices that Léa's apartment is no longer empty and she has returned home.

Comforted by this fact, Chéri runs home to Edmée where he has sex with her properly and kindly, thinking that he can now live in peace, juggling both women.

The website's critics consensus reads, "A too-short script and a romance lacking in heat detracts from an otherwise haughty charmer.

"[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[5] Stephen Dalton of The Times reviewed the film favourably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache.

"[6] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt.

"[7] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world.