The Lady of the Camellias

Following the death of the celebrated Parisian courtesan Marguerite Gautier, her heartbroken lover Armand Duval arrives at the auction of her belongings and, in a series of flashbacks, relives their love affair. Their romance blossoms despite Marguerite's fragile health and her need for a wealthy lifestyle, but it is shattered when Armand's father secretly persuades her to leave his son to protect the family's reputation. Believing she has betrayed him, Armand publicly humiliates her before learning the truth from her diary - that she sacrificed their happiness out of love - by which time Marguerite has died alone and impoverished. Throughout, her fate is mirrored by that of Manon Lescaut and Des Grieux, whose own tragic love story the characters watch performed as a ballet within the ballet.