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Les Bonnes Femmes
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Wikipedia article
'Les Bonnes Femmes' is a 1960 French comedic drama film directed by Claude Chabrol. Its mix of melodrama, absurd comedy and tragedy is typical for the early, experimental New Wave films. Though unsuccessful upon its initial release in France, it was subject to critical reevaluation, and is now regarded as the best of Chabrol's early films. There are a considerable number of scenes set on the streets, and the viewer gets an expansive look at how Paris looked at the time, in night and day.
Plot
The film tells the story of four attractive single Parisian women and their domestic and romantic encounters. Several of them work as saleswomen in an appliance store, one moonlights as an entertainer, and all are pursued by Parisian men both good and bad. Jane is pursued by men and portrayed as being more ditzy and happy go lucky. Ginette works during the night as an entertainer and reveals that she hates her day job with the other girls. Rita has a fianc, but during dinner with his parents, one sees that he thinks very little of her as an intellectual and a person. Jacqueline is pursued through the film by a mysterious man on a motorcycle, and even turns down other men after developing feelings for him despite never meeting. However, after the two finally meet and proclaim their love for each other, the man murders Jacqueline in the forest and then flees on his motorcycle.
Cast
* Bernadette Lafont Jane
* Clotilde Joano Jacqueline
* Stphane Audran Ginette
* Lucile Saint-Simon Rita
* Mario David Andr Lapierre (the motorcyclist)
* Pierre Bertin Belin (the shop owner)
* Ave Ninchi Louise
* Jean-Louis Maury Marcel
* Albert Dinan Albert
* Sacha Briquet Henri
* Claude Berri Andr, Jane's boyfriend
Reception
The film was a commercial failure in France, and wasn't shown in the United States until 1966. Later it was subject to critical reevaluation, and is now regarded as the best of Chabrol's early films. Robert Alden in 'The New York Times' wrote that "'Les Bonnes Femmes' is not a perfect film, but it is a worthwhile piece of cinema and it deserves more recognition than it has had." The 'Los Angeles Times' reviewer wrote: "Chabrol shoves aside the mechanics of suspense almost entirely to engage us in a sensitive study of character. As a result, "Les Bonnes Femmes" remains one of his most individualand most satisfyingworks." 'Time Out' said: "At once a detailed portrait of Parisian life and an ironic, witty study of human foibles, the film remains emotionally affecting thanks to Chabrol's unsentimental compassion for his subjects." Writing in 'The Guardian', David Thomson called it "one of Chabrol's best films, in which the four shopgirls he observes are all versions of the Emma Bovary dream. It's a great movie just because the people seem so ordinary and their lives so trivial." 'Indiewire' described it as "a simultaneously heartbreaking and chillingly dark piece," and added that "the cruel world he [Chabrol] depicts... is a mans world, and women are just passing time in it."
In the works of others
The murder in the woods scene inspired the climactic sequence in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 13-part miniseries 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' (1980).
References
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