Mademoiselle ma mère (1936)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Henri Decoin

Writers:

Jean Boyer (writer)
Louis Verneuil (play)

Release Date:

18 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Cast

Danielle Darrieux	...	Jacqueline Letournel
Pierre Brasseur	...	Georges Letournel
Pierre Larquey	...	Le patron de l'hostellerie (as Larquey)
Robert Arnoux	...	Moreuil
Fred Pasquali	...	Le détective (as Pasquali)
Marcel Simon	...	M. Vignolle, e père de Jacqueline
Christiane Isola	...	L'infirmière
Gilberte Géniat	...	Louise, la bonne
Andrée Poldy	...	La Martiniquaise
Simone Martell	...	Une petite femme
Lucien Suire	...	Un peintre (as Suire)
Artigas	...	Un gigolo (as Artiguas)
Gaston Rey	...	Un gigolo
Jean Chevrier	...	Un gigolo (as Chevrier)
André Alerme	...	Albert Letournel (as Alerme)

Runtime:

France:129 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Régina

Movie Connections:

Remade as Novio, marido y amante (1948)

Wicked Stepmother

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Here's one for trivia buffs: What links Le Roi Soleil, Miss Adelaide from Guys and Dolls and Jacqueline Letournel from Mademoiselle, Ma Mere. Gee, I thought you'd never ask. Answer: The number fourteen. Le Roi Soleil was Louis the fourteenth (as in, my furniture goes back to Louis the fourteenth; I don't pay by the fourteenth it goes straight back to Louis), Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls has been engaged to Nathan Detroit for fourteen years and Jacqueline in Mademoiselle, Ma Mere has, despite her tender years, been engaged fourteen times. Each time, to the chagrin of her father (Marcel Simon) it has gone tits up and her father's constant nagging is getting on the poitrines of Jacqueline who solves the problem by buying a white dress, hiring a church and marrying fifty-something Albert Letournal (Andre Alerme) as you would. Monsieur Letournal, however, comes complete with a twenty-five year old son, Georges, in the shape of Pierre Brasseur, still, in the thirties, being cast as romantic leads and getting away with them in spite of a set of features more suited to the gallery of heavies he went on to portray. We now have what the CIA likes to call a 'situation', two young people striking sparks off each other and a gooseberry who just happens to be married to one and the father of the other. Present this scenario to Gene O'Neill and you wind up with a Greek Tragedy and Gene duly obliged with Desire Under The Elms but O'Neill of course was Irish and 'black' Irish at that, in France they do things differently and I for one am so glad. Danielle Darrieux (Jacqueline) makes a seriously wicked stepmother by which I mean the kind you could eat with a spoon as opposed to the kind that slips a Mickey into the Golden Delicious when Snow White is looking the other way but the script dictates that Georges (Brasseur) remains indifferent to her adorability until the last possible minute. This is yet another triumph for the director-actress team of Henri Decoin and Danielle Darriux with a screenplay by Jean Boyer who also wrote Abuse de Confiance for the same team and wrote and directed Chaleur du sein for Arletty so strong credits all round. This is one I will watch with pleasure again and again.