In the 1963 film *Contempt* (*Le Mépris*), the primary connections between the main characters are rooted in the professional world of cinema, specifically during a production at the **Cinecittà studios in Rome**.
### **Paul and Camille Javal (The Married Couple)**
* **Relationship:** They are husband and wife at the start of the film, having been married for several years.
* **Background:** Before their marriage, **Camille was a typist (or secretary)**. In the film and the source novel by Alberto Moravia, it is established that Paul met her when she was working in this capacity. A point of friction in their relationship is Paul's intellectual elitism; he occasionally mocks her background, once exclaiming in frustration, "I can't believe I married a typist!"
* **Initial Meeting:** While the film begins with them already married, their history is one of a "formerly happy marriage" where Paul’s transition from a serious playwright to a commercial screenwriter has begun to erode Camille's respect for him.
### **Paul Javal and Jeremy Prokosch (The Professional Link)**
* **Relationship:** Prokosch is a wealthy, "vulgar" American film producer who hires Paul.
* **The Connection:** Prokosch knows of Paul through his reputation as a writer who can "doctor" scripts to make them more commercial. Specifically, Prokosch was impressed by Paul's work on a previous (fictional) film titled ***Toto Meets Hercules***. Prokosch summons Paul to the Cinecittà studios to help "rescue" an adaptation of Homer's *The Odyssey* that is being directed by Fritz Lang.
### **Camille Javal and Jeremy Prokosch**
* **The Connection:** Camille and Prokosch **meet for the first time at the beginning of the film** at the Cinecittà studios.
* **Specific Detail:** Paul introduces Camille to Prokosch during their first meeting about the script. The "contempt" that gives the movie its title begins almost immediately after this introduction: Paul encourages Camille to ride alone with Prokosch in his two-seat red Alfa Romeo sports car to his villa, while Paul follows in a taxi. Camille interprets this as Paul "prostituting" her to the producer to secure his writing contract.
### **Fritz Lang and the Others**
* **Relationship:** The legendary director **Fritz Lang plays himself**.
* **The Connection:** He is the director hired by Prokosch. He knows Prokosch as his employer (with whom he is in constant artistic conflict) and meets Paul for the first time as the "script doctor" brought in to change his vision of the film.
### **Francesca Vanini**
* **Relationship:** She is **Jeremy Prokosch's assistant and interpreter**.
* **The Connection:** She is an employee who facilitates communication between the polyglot group (Prokosch speaks English, Lang speaks German/French, and the Javals speak French). She is the bridge for all their professional interactions, though the film hints at an abusive or exploitative relationship between her and Prokosch.