Les Dragueurs (1959)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky

Film Review

The Polish born actor-screenwriter Jean-Pierre Mocky hoped to make his directing debut in 1959 with La Tête contre les murs, which he scripted, but the producer instead opted to hire Georges Franju, a more experienced filmmaker.  Mocky subsequently directed his first film, Les Drageurs, a comedy-drama which had its Paris premiere on 29th April 1959.  Somewhat imperfect and obviously hastily made, this film came out at almost the same time as Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle.  Although it is not exactly New Wave, the movie is still a blast of fresh air for French cinema.  By the way, the word 'drageur' (which translates as 'chaser') has since entered the French dictionary.

This film is about two young men, one shy and the other self-confident, who are trying to pick up women during a fast-paced night in Paris.  In fact, this road-movie's real subject is loneliness in the big city.  Mocky displays an acid yet tender tone to show everyday life in Parisian locations and it causes you to reflect on the abyss between the mentalities of the 1950s and today.  Even with an optimistic ending (imposed by the producer), this pleasing 'scandalous film' is a charming piece of work about liberated sexual behaviour in the late 1950s.

Initially, Laurent Terzieff and Jean-Paul Belmondo were chosen for the film's leading characters but the producer insisted on Jacques Charrier (famously the husband of Brigitte Bardot) and Charles Aznavour.  Charrier was first noticed in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs (1958) and later starred in Christian-Jaque's Babette s'en va t'en guerre (1959) and Michel Deville's À cause, à cause d'une femme (1963).  The singer-actor Charles Aznavour, already acclaimed for his part in La Tête contre les murs, agreed to play the part of Joseph Bouvier in Mocky's film while waiting for Truffaut's Tirez sur le pianiste (1960).

Around the chasers there is a delightful parade of emblematic actresses of the period, including the lovely Dany Robin, the beautiful Estella Blain, the charming Dany Carrel, the fragrant Nicole Berger, the glamorous Anouk Aimeé and the gorgeous English actress Belinda Lee.  This joyous ride attracted an audience of 1.5 million in France and won a prize at the Locarno Film Festival.

Film Synopsis

One Saturday night, two young men named Freddy and Joseph meet by chance on the banks of the River Seine.  Both have the same objective in mind: chasing women.  Freddy, a decorator, claims to have experience with girls and knows how to seduce them. Joseph, a bank employee, dreams of getting married and starting a family.  They decide to stick together and off they go, to trawl Paris for a nice bit of skirt.  At the Invalides, they meet the out-going Dénise, but she is clearly only after a one night stand.  In Saint-Germain-des-prés, our likely lads appear to strike lucky with Dadou and Sylviane, but they beat a hasty retreat when it becomes apparent that these two wily lasses only want someone to pay for their drinks.  The night is still young and Freddy and Joseph are still hopeful that they can get what they want before the evening is out...