Summary
An Affair of the Follies is a sharp, atmospheric exploration of the fragile masculine ego and the economic desperation of the late 1920s. When Jerry, a low-level clerk, finds himself cast out of the workforce, the domestic stability of his marriage is shattered. His wife, Tamara, chooses to reclaim her agency and her paycheck by returning to the high-glamour, high-scrutiny world of the Follies—a move that Jerry perceives as a personal failure rather than a survival tactic. Their separation sets a collision course between the working class and the elite. Through a series of improbable but narratively rich coincidences involving an eccentric inventor and a lonely millionaire named Hammersley, the film examines whether love can survive the transactional nature of high society. As Hammersley becomes an unwitting benefactor to the husband while privately pining for the wife, the story transforms from a simple domestic drama into a complex web of missed connections and social commentary.
Synopsis
Young husband Jerry, a clerk, loses his job, and in order to bring money into the house, his wife Tamara goes back to her old job as a dancer in the Follies. The husband doesn't like the idea at all, and they wind up separating. One night the clerk and his friend, an inventor, are dining at a restaurant, and the inventor is lamenting that he has a great invention but can't get in to see a millionaire named Hammersley in order get get financial backing. They don't know that Hammersley happens to be sitting at the next table. The three strike up a conversation and become friends. However, there's another thing Jerry also doesn't know--Hammersley is in love with Tamara and, in fact, she is going to his house that night to see him.