Mademoiselle Fifi (film)
Encyclopedia
Mademoiselle Fifi is a 1944 RKO period film directed by Robert Wise
, in his solo directorial debut. It was written by Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric based on two short stories by Guy de Maupassant
, "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif
". The film features an ensemble cast headed by Simone Simon
, John Emery and Kurt Kreuger
, and was produced by noted B-film producer Val Lewton
.
of 1870, a beautiful young laundress, Elizabeth Rousset (Simone Simon
), shares a stage coach ride from Rouen with a group of condescending nobles and businessmen and their wives, a political firebrand named Jean Cornudet (John Emery) and a young priest on his way to his new assignment (Edmund Glover). When they stop for the night at a village controlled by Prussian Lieutenant von Eyrick, known to his fellow officers as "Mademoiselle Fifi" (Kurt Kreuger
), their coach is held up until the laundress agrees to "dine" with the lieutenant. Unlike her social betters, who have all fraternized with the enemy, and had them as guests in their homes, Elizabeth is a simple patriot, and will not eat or consort with the invaders of her country, so the coach cannot go on. The group finally convinces her that it would be best for France for them to get on with their business, and she concedes. While she is closeted with the arrogant Prussian, whose aim is to humiliate and degrade her, the rest of the travellers celebrate their deliverance by getting drunk on champagne, and following the progress of the evening's encounter through the sounds coming from inside.
The next morning, when the coach departs – with Lt. von Eyrick travelling with them – all the travellers except Cornudet and the priest ostentatiously snub Elizabeth, while chatting and gossiping with the Prussian. At Cleresville, after Elizabeth, the priest and von Eyrick leave the coach, Cornudet is overcome by guilt at his previous actions, tells the group off and leaves to seek Elizabeth out. He tries to apologize to her, but she rejects him – even so, she has stirred his patriotism again.
The young priest has taken over from the previous curé who defied the Prussians by refusing to ring the church bell, and he has decided to continue that defiance – the bell will remain silent until the first blow is struck for the freedom of France. The Prussian Captain in charge of the village wants the French to submit to them, and ring the bell themselves ("We do not win," explains Lt. von Eyrick, "unless our opponents ring the bell"), but one of his subordinates has vowed that on his next patrol, he will ring the bell himself. Cornudet hears this, and prepares to protect the bell. That night, when the Prussians approach the church to ring the bell, he shoots and kills a lancer charging toward him on horseback.
Meanwhile, the bored Prussian officers have thrown themselves a party, and have rounded up women from the village to attend. Elizabeth feels she must go, as the Prussians threaten to withhold their business from her aunt's laundry unless she does – and she is assured that "Mademoiselle Fifi" will not be at the party; but, of course, he is. When the lieutenant, drunk, slaps Elizabeth after insulting France and the French, she picks up a knife and stabs and kills him. Both now trying to escape from Prussians who are hunting them, Elizabeth and Cornudet are taken in by the priest, who hides them.
When the Prussians make arrangements with the priest for the funeral of Lt. von Eyrick, they ask that the bell be rung as is customary. The priest agrees, and the Prussians feel that they have won their battle. However, the priest explains later to Elizabeth and Cornudet that the bell can be rung now that the first blow for French freedom has been struck – by a woman.
wanted to break out of producing horror films, and suggested that RKO make a period film based on the short stories of Guy de Maupassant, with Erich von Stroheim
and Simone Simon. George Sanders
was approached about playing Lieutenant Fifi.
Prior to directing Mademoiselle Fifi, his first official solo directorial credit, film editor Robert Wise
had directed retakes and additional sequences on The Magnificent Ambersons
while Orson Welles
was in South America, and had replaced director Gunther von Fritch on Val Lewton's The Curse of the Cat People
. His work on Cat People convinced Lewton to use him again on Fifi. Wise also directed The Body Snatcher
for Lewton in 1945.
Lewton and Wise studied hundreds of period paintings by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Delacroix
, Daumier and Detaille, to find the look they wanted. Wise later commented: "Because those were low-budget films, we had to stretch our imagination and get results without too much to work with. How we staged them, how we lit them, how we placed our camera was to get strong, effective results without having the material at hand."
Mademoiselle Fifi was in production from 23 March through late April 1944 with the working title of "The Silent Bell". Shooting took 22 days on a budget of $200,000 - a record low amount for an American costume drama in the sound era. Sets left over from RKO's 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame
were utilized, but because of the skimpy budget, cardboard sets were also used at some points. The outdoor snow scenes were shot at Big Bear Lake, California
.
To improve her figure when filming, the French actress Simone Simon wore false breasts which she called "my eyes." Before each take, she would call out "Bring me my eyes!"
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
, in his solo directorial debut. It was written by Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric based on two short stories by Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
, "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif
Boule de Suif
Boule de Suif is a short story by the late-19th century French writer Guy de Maupassant. It is arguably his most famous short story, and is the title story for his collection on the Franco-Prussian War, entitled "Boule de Suif et Autres Contes de la Guerre"...
". The film features an ensemble cast headed by Simone Simon
Simone Simon
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931.-Early life:Born in Béthune, Pas-de-Calais France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Champmoynat, a French engineer, airplane pilot in World War II, who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria...
, John Emery and Kurt Kreuger
Kurt Kreuger
Kurt Kreuger was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third most requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.-Life and career:...
, and was produced by noted B-film producer Val Lewton
Val Lewton
Val Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s.-Early life:...
.
Plot
In occupied France during the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870, a beautiful young laundress, Elizabeth Rousset (Simone Simon
Simone Simon
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931.-Early life:Born in Béthune, Pas-de-Calais France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Champmoynat, a French engineer, airplane pilot in World War II, who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria...
), shares a stage coach ride from Rouen with a group of condescending nobles and businessmen and their wives, a political firebrand named Jean Cornudet (John Emery) and a young priest on his way to his new assignment (Edmund Glover). When they stop for the night at a village controlled by Prussian Lieutenant von Eyrick, known to his fellow officers as "Mademoiselle Fifi" (Kurt Kreuger
Kurt Kreuger
Kurt Kreuger was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third most requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.-Life and career:...
), their coach is held up until the laundress agrees to "dine" with the lieutenant. Unlike her social betters, who have all fraternized with the enemy, and had them as guests in their homes, Elizabeth is a simple patriot, and will not eat or consort with the invaders of her country, so the coach cannot go on. The group finally convinces her that it would be best for France for them to get on with their business, and she concedes. While she is closeted with the arrogant Prussian, whose aim is to humiliate and degrade her, the rest of the travellers celebrate their deliverance by getting drunk on champagne, and following the progress of the evening's encounter through the sounds coming from inside.
The next morning, when the coach departs – with Lt. von Eyrick travelling with them – all the travellers except Cornudet and the priest ostentatiously snub Elizabeth, while chatting and gossiping with the Prussian. At Cleresville, after Elizabeth, the priest and von Eyrick leave the coach, Cornudet is overcome by guilt at his previous actions, tells the group off and leaves to seek Elizabeth out. He tries to apologize to her, but she rejects him – even so, she has stirred his patriotism again.
The young priest has taken over from the previous curé who defied the Prussians by refusing to ring the church bell, and he has decided to continue that defiance – the bell will remain silent until the first blow is struck for the freedom of France. The Prussian Captain in charge of the village wants the French to submit to them, and ring the bell themselves ("We do not win," explains Lt. von Eyrick, "unless our opponents ring the bell"), but one of his subordinates has vowed that on his next patrol, he will ring the bell himself. Cornudet hears this, and prepares to protect the bell. That night, when the Prussians approach the church to ring the bell, he shoots and kills a lancer charging toward him on horseback.
Meanwhile, the bored Prussian officers have thrown themselves a party, and have rounded up women from the village to attend. Elizabeth feels she must go, as the Prussians threaten to withhold their business from her aunt's laundry unless she does – and she is assured that "Mademoiselle Fifi" will not be at the party; but, of course, he is. When the lieutenant, drunk, slaps Elizabeth after insulting France and the French, she picks up a knife and stabs and kills him. Both now trying to escape from Prussians who are hunting them, Elizabeth and Cornudet are taken in by the priest, who hides them.
When the Prussians make arrangements with the priest for the funeral of Lt. von Eyrick, they ask that the bell be rung as is customary. The priest agrees, and the Prussians feel that they have won their battle. However, the priest explains later to Elizabeth and Cornudet that the bell can be rung now that the first blow for French freedom has been struck – by a woman.
Cast
- Simone SimonSimone SimonSimone Thérèse Fernande Simon was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931.-Early life:Born in Béthune, Pas-de-Calais France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Champmoynat, a French engineer, airplane pilot in World War II, who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria...
as A Little Laundress (Elizabeth Rousset) - John Emery as Jean Cornudet
- Kurt KreugerKurt KreugerKurt Kreuger was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third most requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.-Life and career:...
as Lt. von Eyrick - called "Mademoiselle Fifi" - Alan NapierAlan NapierAlan William Napier-Clavering was an English actor, best known for portraying Alfred Pennyworth in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.-Early life and career:...
as The Count de Breville - Helen FreemanHelen Freeman CorleHelen Freeman was an American actress.-Biography:She was born in 1886 as Helen Freeman to Benjamin N. Freeman , a Denver banker. In 1932 she married Edwin Corle in in Ensenada, Mexico. She died in 1960.-References:...
as The Countess de Breville - Jason Robards Sr. as A Wholesaler in Wines
- Norma VardenNorma VardenNorma Varden was an English actress with a long film career in Hollywood.Born in London, the daughter of a retired sea-captain, Varden was a child prodigy. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris and performed in England before deciding to take up acting...
as The Wholesaler's Wife - Romaine Callender as A Manufacturer
- Fay Helm as The Manufacturer's Wife
- Edmund Glover as A Young Priest
- Charles WaldronCharles WaldronCharles Waldron , sometimes credited as Charles Waldron Sr., Chas. Waldron Sr., Charles D. Waldron or Mr. Waldron, was an American film and theatre actor.-Film:...
as The Curé of Cleresville
Production
Producer Val LewtonVal Lewton
Val Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s.-Early life:...
wanted to break out of producing horror films, and suggested that RKO make a period film based on the short stories of Guy de Maupassant, with Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
and Simone Simon. George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
was approached about playing Lieutenant Fifi.
Prior to directing Mademoiselle Fifi, his first official solo directorial credit, film editor Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
had directed retakes and additional sequences on The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons (film)
The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins...
while Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
was in South America, and had replaced director Gunther von Fritch on Val Lewton's The Curse of the Cat People
The Curse of the Cat People
The Curse of the Cat People is a 1944 film directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise, and produced by Val Lewton. This film, which was then-film editor Robert Wise's first directing credit, is the sequel to Cat People and has many of the same characters...
. His work on Cat People convinced Lewton to use him again on Fifi. Wise also directed The Body Snatcher
The Body Snatcher
The Body Snatcher is a fictional short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. First published in the Pall Mall Christmas "Extra", in December 1884, the story is based on characters in the employ of Robert Knox, around the time of the Burke and Hare murders.-Plot summary:The story...
for Lewton in 1945.
Lewton and Wise studied hundreds of period paintings by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
, Daumier and Detaille, to find the look they wanted. Wise later commented: "Because those were low-budget films, we had to stretch our imagination and get results without too much to work with. How we staged them, how we lit them, how we placed our camera was to get strong, effective results without having the material at hand."
Mademoiselle Fifi was in production from 23 March through late April 1944 with the working title of "The Silent Bell". Shooting took 22 days on a budget of $200,000 - a record low amount for an American costume drama in the sound era. Sets left over from RKO's 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
were utilized, but because of the skimpy budget, cardboard sets were also used at some points. The outdoor snow scenes were shot at Big Bear Lake, California
Big Bear Lake, California
Big Bear Lake is a city in San Bernardino County, California along the south shore of Big Bear Lake, located northeast of the city of San Bernardino. The population was 5,019 at the 2010 census, down from 5,438 at the 2000 census...
.
To improve her figure when filming, the French actress Simone Simon wore false breasts which she called "my eyes." Before each take, she would call out "Bring me my eyes!"
Response
Unfortunately for Lewton's hopes for breaking out of the horror genre, Mademoiselle Fifi did not do well at previews, or at the box office once it was released, and was by far the worst grossing of Lewton's films. Some critics, however, thought the film was well worth while. James Agee wrote in The Nation:I don't know of any American film which has tried to say as much, as pointedly, about the performance of the middle class in war. There is a gallant, fervent quality about the whole picture, faults and all, which gives it a peculiar kind of life and likeableness, and which signifies that there is one group of men working in Hollywood who have neither lost nor taken care to conceal the purity of their hope and intentions.
External links
- Mademoiselle Fifi at AFIAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...