Paris Frills | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jacques Becker |
Written by | Jacques Becker Maurice Aubergé Maurice Griffe |
Produced by | André Halley des Fontaines |
Starring | Raymond Rouleau Micheline Presle Jean Chevrier Gabrielle Dorziat Jeanne Fusier-Gir |
Cinematography | Nicolas Hayer |
Edited by | Marguerite Renoir |
Music by | Jean-Jacques Grünenwald |
Production company | L'Essor Cinématographique Françias |
Distributed by | Védis |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Box office | 2,108,663 admissions (France) [1] |
Paris Frills (French : Falbalas) is a 1945 French drama film directed by Jacques Becker and starring Raymond Rouleau, Micheline Presle and Jean Chevrier. It was made in 1944 during the German occupation but not released until the following year. The film's sets were designed by the art director Max Douy. It was shot at the Francoeur Studios in Paris. Exteriors were shot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
Micheline (Micheline Presle), a young woman from the provinces, arrives in Paris to prepare for her marriage to a silk manufacturer from Lyon, Daniel Rousseau (Jean Chevrier). But she falls in love with the best friend of her husband-to-be, the fashion designer Philippe Clarence (Raymond Rouleau). He is an impenitent Don Juan who seduces her when he feels the need for some creative inspiration and then drops her just as quickly when he comes to devote himself to a new collection. Micheline no longer feels she can go ahead and get married. A few weeks later Clarence tries to reconquer her but it is too late. She refuses. Clarence goes mad and throws himself from a window.
Film critic Manny Farber in The New Republic , December 16, 1946, wrote:
This is the only movie I have ever seen in which a posturing, narcissistic personality is shown in the full run of everyday situations and is handled with a matter-of-fact understanding that makes it into a sad, creative, extremely curious and complicated character. [2]
Farber adds: “With the efficiency of a good documentary but in a charming, casual, offhand manner, Becker acquaints you with the complicated, caste-ridden business of dress designing…the nicest group of people I have seen in current movies are the friendly, loyal, unaffected seamstresses whose characters are so different from the dresses they make.” [3]
Jean-Paul Gaultier told the New Yorker that seeing Falbalas made him want to go into fashion. The story, about a Parisian dressmaker who seduces his best friend's fiancée, provided a detailed look at the fashion industry of the time, and shaped Gaultier's ideas of what that world would be like. [4]
Jean Paul Gaultier is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer.
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Micheline Presle was a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting her career in 1937, she starred or appeared in over 150 films appearing first in productions in her native France and also in Hollywood during the era of Classical Hollywood Cinema, before returning again to Europe, especially French films from the mid-1960s until 2014.
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Raymond Rouleau was a Belgian actor and film director. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1928 and 1979. He also directed 22 films between 1932 and 1981. Rouleau studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he met Tania Balachova. They emigrated to Paris together and collaborated with a variety of directors at the cutting edge of French theatre, including Charles Dullin and Gaston Baty. They married in France and separated in 1940. He subsequently married the actress Françoise Lugagne.
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