Though this movie is based on the novel by Émile Zola, the story is as old as antiquity. Phaedra was a Greek legend/tragedy which must have inspired Zola. Phaedra is also the title of a movie shot in Greece by Jules Dassin in 1962 (4 years before Vadim's La Curée) starring Melina Mercouri. They all revolve around the theme of an adulteress wife who falls in love with her stepson. They usually end tragically. The difference with Roger Vadim's movie is the way he plays on the eroticism that exudes from the ever beautiful Jane Fonda. She plays the role of a Canadian young heiress who marries this distinguished french bourgeois businessman only to get aroused by his son who is closer to her age. If you like beautiful erotic shots and situations, you will like this. Of course Barbarella (2 years later by the same director and Jane Fonda) is even more erotic.
Review of The Game Is Over
