Small Misery of Married Life: Balzac Delves Into the Couple at Versailles’ Open University

Published by Laurent de Sortiraparis · Updated on May 27, 2026 at 11:50 p.m.
Petites misères de la vie conjugale, an adaptation of Honoré de Balzac by Pierre-Olivier Mornas, is presented at Versailles’s Open University on June 11, 2026 as part of the Molière Month. This play follows Caroline and Adolphe, a couple observed through routines, tensions, and the little frictions of married life.

In a relationship, major crises often begin with the tiniest of things. With Petites misères de la vie conjugale, Honoré de Balzac lands at the Mois Molière in Versailles in an adaptation and direction by Pierre-Olivier Mornas, staged at the Université ouverte de Versailles, on Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 8:45 PM. The production centers on Caroline and Adolphe, two marital figures Balzac watches not to lionize but to unpack the everyday mechanics of life between two people.

The text unfolds as a survey of marital misadventures. Marriage, routines, sensitivities, misunderstandings, domestic stratagems: each situation becomes a tableau in which Balzac watches the couple with distance and irony. The author writes for both the married and the single, turning intimate conjugal life into a field of social observation. The line "Whoever can laugh, let them laugh!" appearing in the piece sets the tone for this exploration, where laughter does not always erase the discomfort.

On stage, Alice d’Arceaux and Pierre-Olivier Mornas carry this two‑hander, a duo that brings to light the power dynamics, the small defeats and the tiny daily victories. The play doesn’t pretend to solve the question of the couple, but shows how it operates when it becomes a space of constant negotiation. Beneath the apparent lightness of the subject, Balzac reveals a precise mechanism, made of expectations, frustrations, and lucidity.

The play thus brings to the surface a question subtler than it seems: what everyday life rewrites in a relationship, as habits accumulate and feelings mingle with reflexes, silences, and each person’s small maneuvers.

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Practical information

Dates and Opening Time
On June 11, 2026
Starts at 08:45 p.m.

× Approximate opening times: to confirm opening times, please contact the establishment.

    Location

    6 Impasse des Gendarmes
    78000 Versailles

    Route planner

    Access
    RER C stop at "Versailles Château - Rive Gauche"

    Official website
    www.moismoliere.com

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