Isabel Walker travels to Paris to visit her sister Roxy, a poet who lives with her husband, Frenchman Charles-Henri de Persand, and their young daughter, Gennie.
Isabel discovers that he has a mistress, a Russian woman named Magda Tellman, whom he intends to marry after securing a divorce from Roxy.
His mistress Magda is married to a man named Tellman, who begins to stalk and harass Isabel and Roxy, believing the latter to be responsible for his wife's desertion.
Roxy and Isabel's family arrive from the United States to support the sisters, and to also discuss the divorce proceedings and the ownership of the La Tour painting.
Tellman then follows Isabel and her family on an outing to the Eiffel Tower, where he corners them and pulls a gun, demanding an opportunity to explain to Roxy why he killed her husband.
Edgar, persuaded by his socially-conscious family's concern, and tiring of his young lover, casually ends his affair with Isabel over lunch, with the gift of a Hermes scarf.
[5] Le Divorce was filmed in Paris at locations including Café de Flore, Tour Eiffel, Musée du Louvre and Salle Gaveau.
[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and felt that it did not "work on its intended level, because we don't care enough about the interactions of the enormous cast.
[11] In his review for the Village Voice, David Ng wrote: "Indeed, featuring a boatload of intercontinental stars who have little to do, Le Divorce uncannily embodies its privileged bilingual milieu.
[12] Premiere magazine's Glenn Kenny gave the film three out of four stars and wrote that "the picture is a nice return to form for Ivory and company, as well as a welcome stretch for Kate Hudson, whose luminous talents, I fear, are going to be hidden under bushels of stupid Hollywood romantic comedies for the foreseeable future".
[13] In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote: "The film's greatest achievement, however, is in keeping a dizzying variety of characters at odds with each other without any breach of good manners, and without descending to facile stereotypes and caricatures".