Demimonde whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe after her husband abandons her. Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Verdi's opera "La traviata" (1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired by Alexandre Dumas the younger's "La Dame aux Camélias;" Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based on Marie Duplessis, 1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men,
The Lady Without Camelias The Lady Without Camelias The Lady Without Camelias () is a 1953 Italian black-and-white drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Lucia Bosé, Gino Cervi, and Andrea Checchi. Based on a story by Antonioni, the film is about a new starlet who is discovered and her experiences in Italian films. The film has been called "Antonioni's most unjustly neglected fiction feature." Filmed on location in Rome and Venice, "The Lady Without Camelias" was released on 27 February 1953 in Italy. A young shop assistant named Clara Manni (Lucia Bosé) is selected by movie executive Gianni (Andrea Checchi) for his