"THE BLOOD OF OTHERS" Synopsis Set against the World War II Nazi occupation of France, "The Blood of Others" is the story of a consuming love affair and of the heroism it inspires. It is about a willful young woman prepared to sacrifice everything -- including her life -- for the man she loves. Her single- minded dedication is to be tested by a perilous Resistance operation, while a love-stricken German, who would destroy both of them rather than allow another man to have her, already suspects her of anti-Nazi subversion. The film is based on the novel by Simone de Beauvoir, the best-selling author of "The Mandarins" and "The Second Sex." The first of Ms. de Beauvoir's novels to be brought to the screen, "The Blood of Others" is both a romantic thriller and an examination of each and every person's responsibility for his life -- and other's deaths. Paris, 1938. Another European war looms ominously. But Helene Bertrand, a beautiful and headstrong young woman, is more worried by her boyfriend Paul Perrier's total absorption with politics to the exclusion of romance. After he cancels a dinner date to meet yet again with union organizer Jean Blomart, Helene angrily resolves to find out just who Blomart is. When she shows up at the appointed cafe before Paul and meets Jean, there is an immediate and compelling attraction between them. Jean's idealism and good-humor endear him to Helene, while her strongly held, unconventional views intrigue him. Paul's practical notions of romance and marriage -- which clash with Helene's belief that true love calls for total and selfless devotion -- lead her to leave him. Helene begins courting Jean, writing him letters and seeking him out at demonstrations and cafes. Initially Jean warns that he can't get involved with her, but eventually he is taken with Helene and they begin to see each other seriously. Still, Jean's idealism gets in the way. When Helene talks of marriage, Jean reminds her of his political commitments. Hurt, disappointed, Helene leaves him, and it is only after Jean learns that she's pregnant and having an abortion that he returns to her. Jean nurses Helene to health in his apartment following the botched operation. With war imminent, Jean dutifully enlists in the army. Helene reacts furiously, feeling that once again Jean's dedication comes before her. She would rather see him alive and a coward than dead and a hero. Through Jean's family and her boss, Helene arranges for Jean to be transferred to a safe posting in Paris. War is declared and Helene is determined to see Jean. Armed with a letter of reference from a French general, Helene defies military regulations to see Jean at the border town where he is stationed. It is an arduous journey. At first, she rides trains and hitchhikes, but eventually she has to trudge through rough farm country to reach him. Using her charm to get past sentries, she finally finds Jean and tells him about the transfer. He need only apply for it to be in Paris. Jean refuses -- he's to be sent to the front the next day, but he can't avoid his moral obligation to serve his country. Helene returns to Paris, hurt and fearful that Jean will die. When the Germans invade France and the army capitulates, Helene learns that Jean is being hospitalized for a relatively minor wound. Braving refugees and retreating soldiers, one of whom nearly rapes her, Helene again travels to the front. There she discovers that Jean has been taken as a P.O.W. In Paris, Helene finds that her boss, coutourier Gigi Grandjouan, is living with a Wermacht General in the Hotel Meurice -- which has been made Nazi headquarters. Gigi's main customer is Bergman, a young German manufacturer. He is immediately smitten by Helene, and even offers to help arrange for her "friend" Jean's release -- providing Helene continues to work with Gigi. Helene agrees, hoping to get Jean home. But she must increasingly fend off Bergman's obsessive romantic advances, and because of her contact with Gigi and the German, she is labelled a collaborator by Jean's friends -- many of whom have joined the Resistance. Jean returns in the summer of 1941, unaware that Helene is re- sponsible for his release. After he learns of her alleged collaboration, he confronts her. The situation is especially delicate because he has been chosen to lead a local cell of the Resistance. Helene reveals how she got Jean out of Germany. She has hardened and matured, especially after the closest thing to a family for her --roommate Yvonne Kotz and her mother -- were taken away in the French round-up of Jews. She wants to help Jean in the Resistance, if only to prove to him that Bergman means nothing to her. His comrades-in-arms come up with a mission which will be a test of Helene's loyalty and Jean reluctantly approves it. The mission: to place a gun at the heavily guarded Hotel Meurice under the pretext of visiting Bergman -- who is bitterly jealous of her relationship with Jean. Unbeknownst to Helene, the gun is used to assassinate a French Fascist leader. An unavoidable web of danger closes around her. Bergman, increasingly obsessed with Helene, suspects that she and Jean are responsible for the assassination and threatens to expose them unless she marries him. In a gripping scene Bergman tries to kill her but winds up taking his own life in a paroxysm of rage and guilt. In the film's last act, Helen joins a perilous operation to rescue the man who has confessed to the assassination. Disguised as a nurse, she must enter a Gestapo prison in a Red Cross ambulance with other members of Jean's cell. Through tense maneuvering, they manage to get their man into the ambulance. But as they leave the prison, they are discovered. A harrowing gun battle and chase are the only way out. As the film moves to its inexorable climax, we see the depths to which one woman can go for a man -- and the turmoil of a man condemned to spill the blood of others. With a budget of $8.5 million dollars, "The Blood of Others" will be a major international production. The screenplay was adapted from the book by prominent novelist Brian Moore, whose novels and films include "The Luck of Ginger Coffey," "Torn Curtain," and "The Doctor's Wife." The director is Claude Chabrol, who has been called the Hitch-cock of the modern French cinema. His first film, "Le Beau Serge," launched the French New Wave, and since then he has gone on to make some 35 feature films and 14 television productions. Among his other films are "Les Biches," "The Butcher," "La Femme Infidel," and "Violette Noziere." Chabrol will bring his talent for suspense and complex relationships to "The Blood of Others" to make it a thoroughly compelling picture. The producers are John Kemeny and Denis Heroux, whose recently released pictures, "Atlantic City" and "Quest for Fire," were inter- national successes.