Les Bonnes Femmes

Amazon.com

The bonnes femmes of Claude Chabrol's film are four shop girls at a small appliance store in Paris. Good-time girl Bernadette Lafont spends her nights in empty flirtations with boorish womanizers, while social-climbing Lucile Saint-Simon withers under the disdainful gaze of her boyfriend's haughty parents. Seemingly confident Stéphane Audran secretly follows her dream of singing on the stage (losing her composure when she recognizes her friends in the audience), and demure Clotilde Joano holds out for the romantic notion of pure, innocent love. It's her story that Chabrol favors when she falls under the gaze of a motorcycle-riding stalker who finally reveals himself to be a shy, lovesick suitor, a Prince Charming in black leather. Les Bonnes Femmes was a flop when released, but has since been embraced as one of Chabrol's best films and a masterpiece of the French new wave. There's a breezy naturalism that invigorates the film: easy, seemingly spontaneous ensemble performances, the immediacy of shooting on location, and a loose, episodic story full of rich detail. But this is no urban fairy tale: the dreams of these girls are frustrated by a tawdry and brutal world in a shocking, sad finale. Never callous or dismissive, there's a fragile beauty to Chabrol's troubled portrait as he stubbornly holds out hope for these dreamers in a delicately melancholy coda. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

One of my favorite french films of the 1960's.......2007-07-01

If you are looking for a film featuring nightlife in paris you can't go wrong with les bonnes femmes - a movie which traces the paths of a group of young french women as they look for love and struggle through their working hours - it is also about the men who stock them... Chabrol's wonderful black and white movie would influence countless films to come- and perhaps he would never equal its poignancy again.. For me this movie does to paris what Fellini's movies did for rome - absolutely stunning..

Les Bonnes Femmes.......2007-06-27

Brimming with the breezy energy of Parisian nightlife, Chabrol's long-neglected New Wave masterwork maps the dreamy desires and frustrated aspirations of four young women bored by their mundane job in a deathly quiet appliance store. Homing in on the tawdry emptiness of '60s urban swingers, the hypocrisies of respectable society, and the loutish womanizing of male sexual predators, Chabrol satirizes the times while lavishing tremendous sympathy on his female characters. Shot on location in the hip, fast-moving City of Lights, "Les Bonnes Femmes" is a perfect marriage of splendid acting and intriguing turns of events.

Ultimately Creepy but Great!.......2006-02-12

I had never heard of this movie when it was recommended to me by Amazon. I bought it not knowing what to expect and, WOW, what a great film!

A group of young single Parisian women work as shopgirls by day and look for Mr. Right by night. One of the young ladies, Jacqueline, is smitten by a mysterious tall, dark and handsome man who she keeps seeing on his motorcycle. They finally meet at a public swimming pool when he comes to her rescue as she is being dunked under the water by a couple of uncouth male acquaintances.

There is plenty of foreshadowing that should tip off the viewer as to how the relationship between Jacqueline and the motorcyclist will end. If you don't pick up on the foreshadowing, however, you might enjoy the film more as you will be even more shocked by it's ending.

The Verdict for Pure Love........2005-10-28

This film is THE BEST of Chabrol. It is full of innumerable discreet symbolic details that make it a true masterpiece - Carmen's poster, motorbike number 666, the visit to the Zoo where the company is shown FROM the cage, Madam Louise mysterious fetish that turns out to be a cloth with the blood of the executed rapist, the number of girls - four, and many other incredible gems. I agree with a previous reviewer about the strong Cocteau spirit ever-present. Four girls as four temperaments - sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric, Jacqueline is of course the most dreamy and melancholic, looking for the pure love, as sanguine Jane, a disillusioned libertine, is mocking her with arrogant despise. Rita, phlegmatic girl is working so hard to win the marriage, the best scene is when she, a future perfectly bourgeois wife, is terrified by the speech that she has to make about Michelangelo to her groom's parents. Ginette, the choleric girl sings in a questionable establishment, and she has ambitions to become an actress. Jacqueline is so above these vain pursuits, she is so sublime in her idea of love, her incredible romance is unfolding so perfectly - she finally is with her Prince Charming, who embodies everything she ever dreamed about. Then the end is absolutely astonishing, I believe it's an expression of Chabrol's strong opinion about the destiny of such idea of love, along with the destruction of the woman who beholds it.
And the final scene only stresses the conclusion - again it's showing us a naive dreamer, reminding of Jaqueline, eyes wide open, mouth semi-open, she is so happy to be chosen by a man seemingly representing her dreams, she is already giving herself to him, but we only see his brutish neck and no face at all, for such a long episode! We read everything on her face and we know NOTHING about what he wants, any dark violent desires that he hides. The mood of this scene sends a strong signal that her sweet dreams of love will be brutally ruined by the ruthless reality of dominating male desire. I think this is an epitome of Chabrol's philosophy of the boudoir, condemning the pure innocent romantic sentimental melancholic love to death.

Antecedent of Mr. Goodbar?.......2004-11-29

I watched this movie last night and its ending has haunted me. The ending was quite powerful, but predictable. In the last scene, however, with new characters, the director seems to be trying to convey a message. To me it said, in the tradition of "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" to be careful about strangers, not to be trusting or naive, and not to wear rose-colored romantic glasses--not to see what you want to see, but what is really there.

DVD:

DVD

DVD