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Joseph Kessel (1898-1979) - an outstanding French writer of the 20th century, the author of many novels and short stories, a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, a member of the French Academy, a participant in the First and Second World Wars, awarded two crosses for military merit for them. The novel "Beauty of the Day" in France was received ambiguously. There were many disputes, the writer was accused of undermining public moral principles. It is difficult to say what exactly the heroine of the novel perceives as a fantasy, and what as a reality: the life of a rich, respectable married lady or work as a prostitute in a fashionable dating house, where she satisfies the strangest desires of clients. But later, the story of the inexplicable impulses of the soul and the secret needs of the body that run counter to bourgeois morality captivated director Luis Bunuel. In 1967, he made a film based on Kessel's book starring Catherine Deneuve.