If Paris Were Told to Us (1956)
"Si Paris nous était conté" (original title)

Director:

Sacha Guitry

Writer:

Sacha Guitry

Stars:

Françoise Arnoul, Jeanne Boitel, Gilbert Bokanowski

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Françoise Arnoul	...	Duchesse de L...
Jeanne Boitel	...	Mme Geoffrin / Sarah Bernhardt
Gilbert Bokanowski	...	Louis XVI (as Gilbert Boka)
Julien Carette	...	Un cocher
Danielle Darrieux	...	Agnès Sorel
Sophie Desmarets	...	Rose Bertin
Clément Duhour	...	Aristide Bruant
Sacha Guitry	...	Louis XI
Odette Joyeux	...	La Passementiere
Robert Lamoureux	...	Latude
Pierre Larquey	...	Pierre Broussel
Jean Marais	...	François Ier
Jean Martinelli	...	Henri IV / Firmin
Lana Marconi	...	La reine Marie-Antoinette
Michèle Morgan	...	Gabrielle d'Estrées

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

city name in title | paris france

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Genres:

History

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

27 January 1956 (France)

Also Known As:

Gdyby Paryz nam to opowiedzial

Company Credits

Production Co:

Courts et Longs Métrages (C.L.M.), Franco London Films, Société Nouvelle des Établissements Gaumont (SNEG)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last film of Lana Marconi.

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Connections

Featured in Paris non stop (1981)

User Reviews

Sacha Guitry:French wit at its best!

Sacha Guitry died in 1957 and he did not know whether he would finish his movie...He wanted Henri-Georges Clouzot to replace him should he disappear before his work was over.

It was not to be fortunately .It's Guitry's legacy,and it's a delight.Try to see the two movies ("Si Versailles m'était conté and "Si Paris" ) one after the other.They are both witty films ,full of humor -this humor which the Nouvelle Vague did not know- of puns,of anachronisms,of likely stories and historical games.

Guitry's plan was to tell the tale of Paris.Five students come to his house and tell the writer/director history they are taught in their schools is a big bore .As if they were listening to Sheherazade they begin to listen...and we do too...

Unlike so many historical epics,Guitry's work is not linear ,going back and forth between past and present,mixing true historic lines (trial of Marie-Antoinette for instance) and scenes of his own devising (Voltaire's armchair ) It's important to notice the presence of old people and of death in a movie which is a comedy: Guitry insists on the dying Voltaire, and on the centenarians (Fontenelle and the "Cocotte" (= courtezan)).In "Si Versailles..." the best sequences were those where King Louis XIV was getting old .Guitry himself was seriously ill at the time.

Guitry's art is often dazzling:he mixes music,songs (though the

part played by Gerard Philipp is rather bland),dance,mime (and Louis de Funès's talent burgeoning),paintings (Winterhalter's famous "Empress Eugenie and her ladies-in-waiting" suddenly becomes a lively sequence where those women complain about crinoline dresses)...

Many scenes take place in the Bastille ,and deal with its prisoners and the famous Lettres de Cachet which allowed the king to imprison whoever he wanted .Much to the Parisians' surprise after the storming of the prison,there were only seven prisoners then,including two madmen.

Guitry's takes clichés we used to find in old history books (and even still find today)and pushes them to absolute absurdity.Most of the time,it is brilliant: Henri the Fourth had a double (in case of assassination,cause his predecessor Henri the Third was murdered by a monk).When the king (the real king) is killed by Ravaillac,the "stuntman" runs to his mom and shouts :"At last!" Mother gives a sigh of relief "the nightmare's over!"