La Bonne étoile (1943) - film review

In a fishing port in the south of France, a poor fisherman, Guste, is in love with Mireille, the attractive niece of an ageing sea-dog, Baptistin.  Unfortunately, Mireille is infatuated with a playboy Maurice, who makes a pastime of flirting with young women.  When he discovers how much in love Mireille is with Maurice, Guste sets aside his own dreams and tries to get Maurice to agree to marry her...

With its amusing variation on the Cyrano de Bergerac story, La Bonne étoile is a competently directed, yet mildly lacklustre, romantic comedy, very typical of popular French cinema in the early 1940s.

Fernandel brings as much poignancy as comedy to the film, which, despite having a certain naïve charm, is somewhat marred by dull acting performances and a pretty mediocre script.

Jean Boyer’s interest in the film musical genre is quite noticeable in a few scenes, although such artistic flourishes merely emphasise the sense of ennui in the rest of the film, which is hampered by a shallow, implausible plot and unconvincing characters.

© James Travers 2001

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