“Intelligent and amazingly sensitive”: after 63 years, this film with the iconic actress is coming to cinemas.

10 years after her death, actress Bernadette Lafont is in the spotlight in theaters with a mini-retrospective focusing on five of her films from the 60s and 70s. Bernadette Lafont has a very rich filmography, including, for example, La Maman et la whore, L’Effrontée or recently Paulette, her last popular film success.

This release cycle is an opportunity to highlight lesser known or less widely distributed films such as The Pirate Bride or Good Women. The latter has the peculiarity of being one of the early works of a filmmaker who would have a long career: Claude Chabrol! Primarily associated with the thriller genre, with this film we find that he tried black comedy or even what we call Italian comedy early in his career. By Italian comedy, let’s recall, we generally mean dark humor inspired by current events, a genre that was very popular in the 50s and 60s in Italy.

With Les Bonnes femmes, the humor is on point and the film gradually moves towards a darker, even macabre aspect. Beyond the starting point, which seems very innocuous, the film surprises by depicting quite dramatic trajectories.

What is it about?

Four young women, Jane, Jeannette, Jacqueline, and Rita, work in a home appliance store near the Bastille in Paris, and every day they look forward to going out to live their wild dreams… That’s when their workday ends. The film takes a rougher, even corrosive direction.

If the film is also part of the New Wave era, with its black-and-white aesthetic that reflects a certain era of Paris, Les Bonnes femmes especially stood out in the headlines. at the time of its release, Le Monde had a critique that sets the tone. “ Paul Gagauf, who loves to cause scandal, had a field day. Its plot and dialogues are sure to irritate several times and maybe even horribly excite a large number of viewers.On this subject, Bernadette Lafont said:Perhaps it was a new wave, violent reactions, uprisings, debates“, as the press team of the film recalls.

As this review rightly states, Good Women recalls the atmosphere of a Fellini film. “It is deliberately “felinized” by good women, where some influence! The sequence of Les Feux du music-hall, Les Vitelloni and Les Nuits de Cabiria is so obvious that these “hints” in the form of a “tribute” from the younger brother to the elder sometimes resemble vulgar borrowings.“. And added: “The work is too uneven and too often unpleasant not to cause many reservationsAt the time, criticism was harsh because the film could be disturbing. It should be noted here that it was accompanied by a ban under the age of 18.

Today, as evidenced by the reviews published by Internet users, the less well-known film in the filmography of Bernadette Lafont and Claude Chabrol receives more positive comments. It gets an average rating of 3.2 out of 5”.With Les Bonnes femmes we know that Claude Chabrol also excels in the register of comics. Brilliantly written and completely unpredictable (…), this film takes some absolutely delightful liberties. As proof, the film says nothing but shows women dreaming of love and change. (…) We really enjoy seeing them bored, laughing and arguing. An uninhibited, intelligent and wonderfully sensitive film“, summarizes Internet user Kurosawa.

A liberated film, a witness of the era, and not as light as it seems

For Sid Nitrick, this is a “good challenge”:As he later became accustomed, and more fiercely, Chabrol zealously fought against the bourgeoisie, its hidden vices and its conformism. A liberated film, a witness of the era, and not as light as it seems.“

All internet user reviews of Les Bonnes femmes

Around Bernadette Lafont we find Stéphane Audran, Clotilde Joanne and Lucille Saint-Simon. We can also see director Claude Berry in a small role.

5 re-release movies currently in theaters by distributor Tamasa

Love is gay, love is sad by Jean-Daniel Pollet

good women By Claude Chabrol

A pirate’s bride By Nellie Kaplan

Les Stances à Sophie by Moshe Mizrahi

Fake City by Jacques Baratier