Pierre Montaud is a successful lawyer in Dijon and still lives a happy marriage. But he meets Nathalie, an attractive medical student who maintains multiple love affairs that help her live a relatively luxurious life. She hopes for more from her relationship with Pierre, but he refuses to divorce her. So Nathalie returns to her original boyfriend, Olivier. Olivier is subsequently found murdered by Pierre's gun.
Director Christian-Jaque, like other successful directors of the 1940s and 1950s, tried to maintain audience favour in the 1960s, but was not always successful due to competition from the progressive young generation of New Wave directors. Reviewers criticized LA SECONDE VÉRITÉ as a mediocre and largely predictable whodunit, but the casting of the central duo of Robert Hossein and Michèle Mercier, who were then enjoying international success with Angelica (the third installment of the saga, ANGELICA AND THE KING, had premiered shortly before), was a safe bet. LA SECONDE VÉRITÉ premiered on 20 April 1966 and was attended by well over one million people in French cinemas.
