Quiet Days in Clichy (1970)

Not so quiet, Joey and Carl's days in Clichy... The two men, living in a small apartment, are penniless writers, with not enough to eat, which does not prevent them from enjoying life. One ... See full summary »

Director:

Jens Jørgen Thorsen

Writers:

Henry Miller (novel), Jens Jørgen Thorsen

Stars:

Paul Valjean, Wayne Rodda, Ulla Koppel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Valjean	...	Joey
Wayne Rodda	...	Carl
Ulla Koppel	...	Nys (as Ulla Lemvigh-Müller)
Avi Sagild	...	Mara
Susanne Krage	...	Christine
Louise White	...	Surrealist
Petronella	...	Adrienne
Elsebeth Reingaard	...	Colette
Lisbet Lundquist	...	Jeanne
Olaf Ussing	...	Father
Noemi Roos	...	Mother
Anne Kehler	...	Corinne
Herman Wolsgaard-Iversen
Britten Jensen
Elsa Jackson

Storyline

Not so quiet, Joey and Carl's days in Clichy... The two men, living in a small apartment, are penniless writers, with not enough to eat, which does not prevent them from enjoying life. One of their main interests is to get laid with women of various ages, physical appearances and nationalities. Among them, a neighbor in need, a fourteen-year-old half-witted girl, an American newspaper vendor who tends to smash up everything before making love, a Swedish woman who mourns her late husband..., all being merely sex toys they play with

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Plot Keywords:

sex in a bathtub | sex | woman wearing only a man's shirt | hairy vagina | labia | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Denmark

Language:

English Danish

Release Date:

1 June 1970 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Not So Quiet Days

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dans-Svensk, SBA

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the film came to the United States, it was seized by the authorities as pornography. The years have melted away its controversy and the uncut version was released to DVD in 2004.

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Quotes

Joey: It's strange how some come into one's life for a moment or two and then disappear forever. And yet, there's nothing accidental about such meetings.

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Connections

References Commandos (1968)

User Reviews

QUIET DAYS IN CLICHY (Jens Jorgen Thorsen, 1970) **

I only heard about this when the Blue Underground DVD first came out; of course, I was aware of controversial author Henry Miller, on whose novel the film was based - whose work, incidentally, was contemporaneously being transposed to celluloid for the first time via the late Joseph Strick's TROPIC OF CANCER (1970).

Anyway, it was merely a coincidence that I ended up acquiring the two film versions of the book (the other being the 1990 adaptation by Claude Chabrol) virtually simultaneously! Since I was going through a retrospective of that director's work anyway, I decided to check this one beforehand; well, I am glad that my generally negative reaction to it did not give me second thoughts about passing on the remake (as the latter was a more rewarding, and altogether different, experience – but more on that in its own review)! Anyway, I have never been fond of Erotica per se and this is pretty much what one got here: some critics praised the kaleidoscopic style adopted here (actually borrowed from Richard Lester) but this particular approach dates the film more than anything else. Besides, it is further bogged down by the lack of a proper plot (a fault which is much better disguised in the later version), revolting detail (the graphic sexuality on display got it banned in the U.S. on original release – atypically, this is a Danish picture shot in the English language and black-and-white) and characters who seem to have crawled from under rocks (especially the two leads)!

In essence, we follow the dreary and over-sexed exploits of two penniless bohemians (the more studious-looking of whom is supposed to be an alter-ego for the author himself); they become involved with several women, of various ages and nationalities, and not even that good-looking in many cases. Eventually, they both become attached to someone in particular but, with respect to the protagonist's companion, the girl in question is a 14-year old half-wit!; in the end, the film just ends abruptly as if its makers had suddenly run out of money themselves…or film stock or, quite simply, ideas! However, the eclectic score is a big plus – some of it typically French and the rest comprised of numerous conceptual songs by Country Joe (McDonald) of the psychedelic and radical "Country Joe & The Fish" band fame.