Mademoiselle ma mère (1936)
Directed by Henri Decoin

Film Review

Rip-roaring comedy is not the genre that springs most readily to mind when the name Henri Decoin is mentioned, but even the most serious of film directors like to let their hair down from time to time and, interspersed between Decoin's grimmer studies of human nature, there are some surprisingly lighter offerings.  Mademoiselle ma mère is one of Decoin's liveliest and most delightful comedies, a frothy confection that was clearly intended to show off the comedic talents of the director's then wife and muse, Danielle Darrieux at her most dizzyingly uninhibited.  Based on a play of the same play title by Louis Verneuil, the film was scripted by Jean Boyer (who directed a fair number of crowdpleasers of this ilk) and any resemblance to American screwball comedies of the time is of course purely deliberate.  As rip-offs go, this one is gloriously brazen.

A non-stop succession of comic escapades which ultimately comes to resemble a compendium of the greatest Hollywood comedies of the 30s and 40s, Mademoiselle ma mère could hardly be more different from Decoin and Darrieux's previous collaboration, the ponderous melodrama Le Domino vert (1936).  From the get go, the 19-year-old Darrieux looks as if she is in her element (or else doing her best to be certified), and she could not be more animated if she were to suffer a severe attack of Saint Vitus' dance whilst being wired up to the French electricity grid.  André Alerme, who gets to play Darrieux's husband of convenience, must have risked a coronary perfoming at the same level as his hyper-energetic co-star and, larger-than-life character though he was, he was never funnier than he is here.   Of course, the idea that someone as young and vivacious as Danielle Darrieux could ever contemplate marrying a man as old as Alerme is too preposterous to be credible for a moment - at least  it would be were it not for the fact she had just married a man 27 years her senior in real life!

Before he became the French directors' villain of choice and made scenery chewing his favourite hobby, Pierre Brasseur was popular at the start of his career as the juvenile lead, and it is in this humble capacity that he proves a suitable foil for Darrieux - certainly it's hard to imagine any other French actor of his age getting away with lifting the feisty lead actress off her feet and carrying her across the set like an unwanted piece of furniture.  With some more seasoned comedy performers (Pierre Larquey, Fred Pasquali and Marcel Simon) on hand to help keep up the exhilarating pace of the film, Mademoiselle ma mère doesn't flag for a second and the gags just keep coming.  This is French film entertainment in its most dangerously concentrated form, and once you've seen it you can hardly wait to watch it all over again.  Given his obvious penchant for making audiences laugh, it seems odd that Decoin would shy away from comedy for most of his career - indeed the only other film he made that is as funny as this one is his Occupation era romp Je suis avec toi (1943).

Film Synopsis

In her search for the perfect husband, Jacqueline Vignolle is slowly driving her parents to distraction.  After fourteen failed engagements, Jacqueline still hasn't found her beau idéal, and so she decides to marry the next eligible man she meets.  This turns out to be Albert Letournel, a fifty-something widower with as much spark as a dilapidated headstone.  The wedding goes ahead, under the disapproving gaze of Letournel's son Georges, who is older than his new stepmother.  Naturally, the marriage proves to be a disaster.  Jacqueline's loathing for her husband and his son drives her to elope with another man.  Determined to give Jacqueline a piece of his mind, Georges runs after her.  Their confrontation does not go quite as planned.  In fact, Georges and his stepmother fall passionately in love...