En effeuillant la marguerite (1956)
Directed by Marc Allégret

Film Review

This is a good-humoured romantic comedy - often veering towards farce - which takes a light-hearted swipe at bourgeois attitudes and, to some extent, male chauvinism.  This is not by any stretch of the imagination an intellectual film, and the comic situations are often too contrived and pantomimesque to be wholly believable.  However, there are some memorable comic performances and the script is relentlessly funny, making the ensemble both rewarding and entertaining.

The film succeeds mainly because it plays on the strengths of its lead actress, Brigitte Bardot.  In her early films, Bardot manages to convey an impression of hapless naivety and vulnerability which - whilst making her obvious prey for exploitative directors and film producers - gives substance to her performances.

Film Synopsis

Agnès, a young woman living in the tranquil spa town of Vichy, finds herself in deep trouble when she publishes a scandalous novel.  The book so offends the girl's father, a respected military man, that he immediately decides to send her off to a convent.  Having no inclination for the life of a nun, Agnès thwarts her father's plans and escapes to Paris by train.  Safe in the capital, she soon meets up with her brother Hubert and is convinced that the Musée Balzac where he works as a guard is his private residence. Unable to reveal the truth about his present humble status, Hubert has let his family believe that he is a successful painter.

Desperately short of funds, Agnès steals one of the rare books from the museum and sells it for some ready cash.   When it dawns on her what she has done, the impetuous young woman decides at once to go out and raise the money so that she can buy back this valuable piece of French heritage.  To this end, she enters a striptease competition, but modesty forces her to wear a mask throughout the entire proceedings.  Watching the contest is a journalist, Daniel Roy, whom Agnès met previously, just after her arrival in the capital.  Not recognising this stunning example of female pulchritude, Daniel becomes overcome by lust.  As he continues seeing Agnès, the journalist sets out to discover the identity of the mysterious striptease artist, not knowing that the two women are in fact one in the same person...