Claude Brasseur as Guy de Maupassant

Jean Carmet as François

Miou-Miou as Gisèle d'Estoc

Simone Signoret as Maupassant's mother

Véronique Genest as Fanny

Jacques Fabbri as Daremberg

Anne-Marie Philipe as Comtesse Potocka

Daniel Gélin as Gustave

Jean-Yves Gautier as Dorchain

Anne Deleuze as Princesse Polignac

William Sabatier as Docteur Blanche

Catherine Frot as Mouche