May 7 (Bloomberg) -- “Three weeks and I’ll send him away,” says the fading courtesan as she entertains a toy boy on the grounds of her country pile.

Lea de Lonval has known a few men in her day. She divides her time between a staffed Art Nouveau home and a sprawling Normandy estate. Now in between lovers, she agrees to look after the wanton son of a retired courtesan, Madame Peloux.

That, simply put, is the plot of “Cheri,” a 1920 novel by French author Colette (1873-1954) that has been turned into a movie by Stephen Frears (“Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Queen”).

Frears knows how to pick a cast, and how to guide it. Michelle Pfeiffer is real as Lea, and boldly lends her own facial lines to the part. Kathy Bates is perfect as her older rival. Rupert Friend is convincing as the young lover.

“Cheri” is set in Belle Epoque Paris, an era of glass domes, feathered hats and courtesans, women wooed so avidly by kings and grand dukes that they amass huge fortunes and make winning bets on the stock market. Pfeiffer’s character boasts in one scene of having invested in oil shares.

Shrewdest of all is Madame Peloux. Her home is covered with knickknacks and drapery, and her sofas are blanketed in mink. She dresses in puffy gowns that hoist her chest to about chin level. “Don’t you find, now the skin’s a little less firm, it holds perfume so much better?” she hisses at the younger Lea.

Her son Fred is a listless young dandy who squanders Maman’s wealth bedding prostitutes two at a time and drinking nothing but Champagne. The nickname Lea gave him as a boy -- Cheri -- has stuck.

Cozy in Mink

Cheri and Lea get cozy in Madame Peloux’s mink-lined veranda. Their affair lasts not three weeks, but six years. He becomes her kept man, lounges at her house wearing silk pajamas, and rides around in her chauffeur-driven car -- until Madame Peloux steps in.

He is married off to the 18-year-old daughter of another rich courtesan, though his mind is on Lea. Lea dines alone thinking of Cheri. She suffers in silence at tea parties where Madame Peloux and the other harpies gossip about the newlyweds.

“Cheri” is no match for Frears’s “Dangerous Liaisons,” which also was scripted by Christopher Hampton, and earned the writer an Academy Award in 1989. Colette’s prose is tough to adapt: Dialogue comes in brief spurts, and months of plot are squeezed into single paragraphs.

Hampton’s laudable effort to stick to the original makes for a jumpy, somewhat rushed beginning; scarcely have we met the two characters than they are a couple. A little more scene- setting would have helped ease the viewer into the story.

Still, sumptuous costumes, on-location shooting, and delicate cinematography by Darius Khondji take you back to a lush fin-de-siecle France. See “Cheri” if you’re a fan of Belle Epoque Paris, of the novels of Colette, of the movies of Stephen Frears or of any member of his fine cast.

Rating: ***.

“Cheri” opens in U.K. movie theaters tomorrow. The movie is already out in France and Belgium, and set for release in the Netherlands on June 25, in the U.S. on June 26, and in Germany on Aug. 27.

(Farah Nayeri writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

What the Stars Mean:
****          Excellent
***           Good
**            Average
*             Poor
(No stars)    Worthless

To contact the reporter on the story: Farah Nayeri in London farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 6, 2009 19:00 EDT