POT-BOUILLE / LOVERS OF PARIS (1957)

In the interconnected world of Émile Zola’s ‘Les Rougon-Macquart’ novels, the exceptionally popular light social comedy of POT-BOUILLE (handsome, available young man moves to Paris, leaves an immediate mark on the ‘rag trade,’ and sets alight the heart of every woman he comes in contact with) leads directly into the full-blooded magnificence of AU BONHEUR DES DAMES/LADIES' PARADISE (super-charged retail emporium rapidly snuffs out an entire neighborhood of small family-owned shops while a Cinderella romance plays out inside the newfangled department store).  Both books wonderfully adapted by Julien Duvivier, but in reverse order.  DAMES a technically dazzling late silent from 1930 (updated to modern times*) whereas BOUILLE retains the 1880s setting and skips dazzle for the solid craftsmanship befitting a mature master.  It takes a reel or two to get up to speed (there are twenty characters to get in place), but the introductions are witty, fun and cleverly overlapped.  Gérard Philipe’s a natural as the best-behaved cad in Paris, ambitious in love & career without being pushy.  But as infidelity at work & play is the norm across social lines & gender not an eyebrow is raised.  Or isn’t till the dull dog who married Philipe’s castoff lover takes umbrage and tries to raise ’seconds’ when the affair reignites.  The women all shockingly beautiful (see photo; Anouk Aimée at 25, 2nd from the right),

none more so than worldly-wise shop owner Danielle Darrieux, Philipe’s sometime employer.  And by the second half, almost every act & line of dialogue is getting big laughs as an entire society of ‘honest’ deception is laid out before us.  Never more so than during a perfectly choreographed bit of boulevard farce as couples play a game of hit & miss infidelity on a grand staircase while an unfaithful father dies of a heart attack after too much ‘exertion.’  Shot & designed by legendary talent (Michel Kelber; Léon Barsacq), the only thing you might want to change is that anodyne English-language title.   (NOTE: Look for the Gaumont 2018 restoration.)

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Duvivier didn’t write the script for DAMES which may explain why it was updated.  An error, but not a mortal one.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/08/au-bonheur-des-dames-1930.html