Passion douce

Passion douce is the French expression, adopted into German, for the school of sensitivity that places sympathy and empathy for the happiness or unhappiness of others at the center of the feelings and wills of a moral person. This person puts their own aspirations aside and strives to remain observant and supportive in the background.

The passion douce was first introduced in the 18th century by Abbé Prévost in the novel Manon Lescaut as a model through the figure of the lover Manons.

Claude Sautet is a representative of the passion douce in his films as well as in life in the recent past . Sometimes Sautet himself was moved to tears when he played the respective scene to the actors on the film set. His notorious outbursts of anger on the set were a means of protecting this outdated sensibility.