This is a critical analysis of Pierre Boulle, author of Planet of the Apes (1963) and Bridge over the River Kwai (1952). Boulle is regarded by the author of this text as a modern-day disciple of the French moralists of the 17th and 18th centuries. She sees his novels as philosophical treatises, not as film scripts, although she notes that each Hollywoodization of a Boulle novel has effectively removed the philosophical matter.