Club de femmes (1936)
Directed by Jacques Deval

Comedy / Drama

Film Review

Abstract picture representing Club de femmes (1936)
An astonishingly daring film for its time, Club de femmes is a curious combination of Billy Wilder-esque comedy and French romantic melodrama.  Although some of the risqué elements of the plot are pretty mundane by today's standards, there is still a great deal of comedy which should appeal to a modern audience.

Danielle Darrieux, later to become a star of French cinema in such films as Mayerling (1936) and Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1949), was only 19 when she appeared in this film.  She plays the exuberant man-mad dancer, Claire, a woman who will do anything to be united with her boyfriend.  This is just one of many sublime comic performances in this film.

On a more sober note, Else Argal plays the sensitive Alice, probably the first lesbian role in French cinema.  Unlike in so many subsequent films, the subject is treated with great sensitivity and tenderness in this film.

Lesbianism, prostitution, child birth out of wedlock, crime of passion, cross-dressing, female nudity - there is no shortage of material in this film to tempt the censors.  When the film was released, whole swathes of the film were cut. As a result of this mutilation, the film had meagre showing and was soon forgotten.  It was only when the film was rediscovered 50 years later that it earned the recognition that it merits.
© James Travers 2000
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.

Film Synopsis

A women-only boarding house in Paris provides an affordable sanctuary for impressionable young woman who wish to be protected from the corrupting influence of the male sex.  After all, young women are such fragile creatures and men are such despicable predators.  In this strictly female environment today's young woman is shielded from all the vice and debauchery that pollutes the modern world.  At least, that is the theory.  In fact, the boarding house is not the safe haven it pretends to be.  One of its boarders is infatuated with another.  One girl is prepared to do almost anything to smuggle her boyfriend into the establishment.  And the receptionist is happily running a prostitution racket.  It seems the young women of Paris are not safe anywhere...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Jacques Deval
  • Script: Jacques Deval
  • Cinematographer: Jules Kruger
  • Cast: Danielle Darrieux (Claire Derouve), Betty Stockfeld (Greta Kremmer), Else Argal (Alice Hermin), Raymond Galle (Robert), Ève Francis (Mme. Fargeton), Valentine Tessier (Gabrielle Aubry), Josette Day (Juliette), Junie Astor (Hélène), Kissa Kouprine (Lucile), Marion Delbo (Françoise), Martine Mouneyres (Jacqueline), Carol Royce (Georgette), Colette Proust, Marie-Claire Pissaro, Elisa Ruis, Michèle Roger, Greta Buciens, Gabrielle Calvi, Betty Xan, Madeleine Gérôme
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Support: Black and White
  • Runtime: 106 min

The best French Films of the 1920s
sb-img-3
In the 1920s French cinema was at its most varied and stylish - witness the achievements of Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Jean Epstein and Jacques Feyder.
The very best French thrillers
sb-img-12
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.
The very best sci-fi movies
sb-img-19
Science-fiction came into its own in B-movies of the 1950s, but it remains a respected and popular genre, bursting into the mainstream in the late 1970s.
The best French war films ever made
sb-img-6
For a nation that was badly scarred by both World Wars, is it so surprising that some of the most profound and poignant war films were made in France?
The history of French cinema
sb-img-8
From its birth in 1895, cinema has been an essential part of French culture. Now it is one of the most dynamic, versatile and important of the arts in France.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © filmsdefrance.com 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright