A provincial ingenue leaves her mother’s tobacco shop with dreams of a life in the Parisian theater, only to become entangled in relationships with a lecherous aristocrat, his starry-eyed nephew, and an old ham actor.
Acting
Louis Jouvet's magnificent ham actor steals every scene he's in.
Direction
Clouzot's rare comedy—tight, knowing, surprisingly warm.
Director
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Louis Jouvet
Monchablon
Bourvil
Urbain de la Tour-Mirande
Saturnin Fabre
Le marquis
Danièle Delorme
Miquette
Mireille Perrey
Madame veuve Hermine Grandier
Pauline Carton
Perrine
Jeanne Fusier-Gir
Mademoiselle Poche
Madeleine Suffel
Noémie
Maurice Schutz
Panouillard
Pierre Olaf
Le jeune premier
Raymond Dandy
Pierre
Léon Larive
Le suisse
Léonce Corne
Le militaire à la représentation du 'Cid'
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on a 1906 play that had already been filmed twice—Clouzot was essentially doing prestige cover versions in between his thriller masterpieces.
Bourvil, playing the sincere nephew, would become France's biggest box office draw—here he's practically the straight man to Jouvet's glorious theatrical chaos.
FR
