Une parisienne (1957)

Une parisienne is a French film comedy first released in 1957, directed by Michel Boisrond.  The film stars Charles Boyer, Henri Vidal, Brigitte Bardot, Noël Roquevert and Madeleine LeBeau.  It has also been released under the title: La Parisienne.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


Brigitte, the daughter of the Prime Minister of France, is madly in love with Michel, her father’s principal secretary.  Although he has had many lovers, Michel, has no interest in Brigitte.  No interest, that is, until he is – quite innocently –  found in bed with her, after which he has no choice but to marry Brigitte.  Even after they are married, Brigitte still thinks that Michel does not love her and resolves to try to make him jealous, by flirting with a visiting royal, Prince Charles...

Despite some very funny moments, this film is really little more than a pretty mediocre romantic farce.  It is almost embarrassing to watch such luminaries of French cinema as Charles Boyer, Henri Vidal and Brigitte Bardot trying to make something of such a lacklustre script.  That the film stands up at all is largely due to their combined efforts.  Brigitte Bardot in particular shows a natural flair for comedy and offers a generally pleasing performance.

The film would have worked better as a send-up to the kind of shallow overly sentimental films that were pouring out of Hollywood at the time.  Unfortunately, it seems more concerned with poking fun at the bourgeois elite without offering anything original.  The film resorts too willingly to cheap belly-laughs and inept one-liners which undermine the credibility of the piece.

The Bardot-Vidal cross-fire is amusing, but never quite believable, and how even Brigitte Bardot could so easily entrap a foreign prince stretches credulity to breaking point.  Still, if you don’t take the film at all seriously and are after some harmless light entertainment, it should not be too much of a disappointment.

© James Travers 2000

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