Paris Frills

Paris Frills
Paris Frills
	Jean-Jacques Grünenwald
Production; company	L'Essor Cinématographique Françias
Distributed by	Védis
Release date	20 June 1945
Running time	110 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	2,108,663 admissions (France)

Paris Frills (

drama film directed by Jacques Becker and starring Raymond Rouleau, Micheline Presle and Jean Chevrier. It was made in 1944 during the German occupation but not released until the following year. The film's sets were designed by the art director Max Douy. It was shot at the Francoeur Studios in Paris. Exteriors were shot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris

.

Plot

Micheline (Micheline Presle), a young woman from the provinces, arrives in Paris to prepare for her marriage to a silk manufacturer from Lyon, Daniel Rousseau (Jean Chevrier). But she falls in love with the best friend of her husband-to-be, the fashion designer Philippe Clarence (Raymond Rouleau). He is an impenitent Don Juan who seduces her when he feels the need for some creative inspiration and then drops her just as quickly when he comes to devote himself to a new collection. Micheline no longer feels she can go ahead and get married. A few weeks later Clarence tries to reconquer her but it is too late. She refuses. Clarence goes mad and throws himself from a window.

Main cast

Raymond Rouleau as Philippe Clarence
Micheline Presle as Micheline Lafaurie
Jean Chevrier as Daniel Rousseau
Gabrielle Dorziat as Solange
Jeanne Fusier-Gir as Paulette
Françoise Lugagne as Anne-Marie
Christiane Barry as Lucienne
Rosine Luguet as Cousin
Yolande Bloin
Eveline Volney as Employee
Maria Carld
François Joux as Murier
Georges Roullet
Marc Doelnitz as Cousin

Critical appraisal

Film critic Manny Farber in The New Republic, December 16, 1946, wrote:

This is the only movie I have ever seen in which a posturing, narcissistic personality is shown in the full run of everyday situations and is handled with a matter-of-fact understanding that makes it into a sad, creative, extremely curious and complicated character.^[2]

Farber adds: “With the efficiency of a good documentary but in a charming, casual, offhand manner, Becker acquaints you with the complicated, caste-ridden business of dress designing…the nicest group of people I have seen in current movies are the friendly, loyal, unaffected seamstresses whose characters are so different from the dresses they make.”^[3]

Influence

Jean-Paul Gaultier told the New Yorker that seeing Falbalas made him want to go into fashion. The story, about a Parisian dressmaker who seduces his best friend's fiancée, provided a detailed look at the fashion industry of the time, and shaped Gaultier's ideas of what that world would be like.^[4]

References

^ French box office figures for 1945 at Box Office Story
^ Farber, 2009 p. 302
^ Farber, 2009 p. 302
^ Article on Jean-Paul Gaultier in Business Insider, 1 February 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.