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En effeuillant la marguerite
1956 Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Marc Allégret
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Script: William Benjamin, Roger Vadim, Marc Allégret
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Photo: Louis Page
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Music: Paul Misraki
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Cast: Daniel Gélin (Daniel Roy),
Brigitte Bardot (Agnès Dumont),
Robert Hirsch (Roger Vital),
Jacques Dumesnil (General Dumont),
Jacques Jouanneau (Edouard,
ami de Daniel),
Mauricet (Monsieur Valentin),
Yves-Marie Maurin (Toto),
Madeleine Barbulée (Madame Dumont),
Anne Collette (La secrétaire),
Luciana Paluzzi (Sophia),
Nadine Tallier (Magali),
Darry Cowl (Hubert Dumont),
Françoise Arnoul (Herself in nightclub),
Mischa Auer (Taxi Driver),
Georges Chamarat (Le facteur),
Patrick Dewaere (Toto's brother)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 101 min; B&W
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Aka: Mademoiselle Striptease; Mam'selle Striptease; Please Mr. Balzac; Plucking the Daisy; While Plucking the Daisy
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Summary
When he find out that his daughter, Agnes, has written a saucy novel, General Dumont orders
her to go to a convent. At the last moment, Agnes escapes on a train bound for Paris,
where she meets a newspaper reporter, Daniel. When Daniel refuses to lend her some
money, Agnes is forced to sell a valuable book taken from the Balzac museum where she
is staying (which she has mistaken for her brother Hubert’s home). When she realises
what she has done, Agnes decides that she must earn some money to buy back the book and
safeguard her brother’s job as the museum caretaker. Her only option is to enter
a strip-tease competition...
Review
This is a good-humoured romantic comedy - often veering towards farce - which takes a
light-hearted swipe at bourgeois attitudes and, to some extent, male chauvinism.
This is not by any stretch of the imagination an intellectual film, and the comic situations
are often too contrived and pantomimesque to be wholly believable. However, there
are some memorable comic performances and the script is relentlessly funny, making the
ensemble both rewarding and entertaining.
The film succeeds mainly because it plays on the strengths of its lead actress, Brigitte
Bardot. In her early films, Bardot manages to convey an impression of hapless naivety
and vulnerability which - whilst making her obvious prey for exploitative directors and
film producers - gives substance to her performances.
© James Travers 2000
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