Plucking the Daisy

Plucking the Daisy
Directed by	Marc Allégret
Written by	Marc Allégret Roger Vadim
Based on	William Benjamin
Produced by	Raymond Eger
Starring	Daniel Gélin Brigitte Bardot
Cinematography	Louis Page
Edited by	Suzanne de Troeye
Music by	Paul Misraki
Color process	Black and white
Production companies	Films EGE Hoche Productions
Distributed by	Les Films Corona
Release date	5 October 1956 (1956-10-05)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	3,296,793 admissions (France)[1]

Plucking the Daisy (French: En effeuillant la marguerite) is a 1956 French comedy film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Daniel Gélin and Brigitte Bardot.

It was also known as Mam'selle Striptease and Please Mr Balzac. (Also known as "Mademoiselle Striptease" and often confused with 1957 French film "Mademoiselle Strip-tease"[2])

Plot

General Dumont discovers that his daughter Agnes is "A.D.", author of a scandalous under-the-counter novel.

He tries to send her to a convent but she escapes to Paris to live with her brother. On the train she meets Daniel, a journalist. Agnes thinks her brother is a rich artist but he's actually a poor guide in the Balzac Museum.

Agnes needs money and enters an amateur striptease contest. Daniel is covering the contest for his magazine.

Cast

• Daniel Gélin as Daniel Roy
• Brigitte Bardot as Agnès Dumont
• Robert Hirsch as Roger Vital
• Jacques Dumesnil as General Dumont
• Jacques Bouillaud as Himself
• Georges Chamarat as Bacchus
• Jacques Fervil as Himself
• Jacques Jouanneau as Edouard, Friend of Daniel
• Mauricet as Monsieur Valentin
• Yves-Marie Maurin as Toto
• Madeleine Barbulée as Mme Dumont
• Anne Collette as La secrétaire
• Gabrielle Fontan as Himself
• Luciana Paluzzi as Sophia (as Luciana Paoluzzi)
• Nadine Tallier as Magali
• Darry Cowl as Hubert Dumont

Production

U.S advertisement from 1958

Roger Vadim had just written a movie which launched Bardot as a leading lady, Naughty Girl. He called this movie "a hack job based on an 'original idea' by the producer which was anything but original... I changed the plot and wrote an amusing, romantic and sexy story."[3]

Reception

Box office

In 1956, the film was the 20th most popular of the year, at the French box office.[4] It was released before Bardot's film And God Created Woman, which was the 13th most popular and Naughty Girl which was 12th.[5]

Critical reception

It was released in the US as Mademoiselle Striptease. The Washington Post called it "one of the nicest comedies of the summer."[6] The Los Angeles Times called it "a most delightful, naughty and very funny comedy... Bardot strikes pure gold... it's strictly a fun show that doesn't try to prove a thing."[7]

It was also released in the US as Please Mr Balzac. The New York Times said the "sole excuse for this singularly unfrothy and unfunny romantic comedy is Brigitte Bardot....[a] thin, old-fashioned, slightly smutty and extremely dull charade... The picture is pretty awful. It needn't have been."[8]

In a retrospective review, Turner Classic Movies called it "a typical French romantic comedy... complete with a meet-cute on a train, and plenty of loving shots of Bardot's pert behind.... typical of the suggestive but innocuous films that Bardot made early in her career."[9]

References

1. Box office information of film at Box Office Story
2. "Plucking the Daisy". IMDb.
3. Vadim, Roger (1986). Bardot, Deneuve, Fonda. Simon and Schuster. p. 78.
4. "FRANCE 1956 - (page 2)". BOX OFFICE STORY (in French). Retrieved 6 December 2021.
5. "French box office films of 1956". Box Office Story.
6. Coe, Richard L. (24 July 1957). "Plaza Lands Little Charmer". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. p. B8.
7. "Spicy Fun Film From France Hit". Los Angeles Times. 12 Oct 1957. p. B3.
8. "Screen: French Import; 'Please! Mr. Balzac' Stars Mlle. Bardot". New York Times. 18 November 1957.
9. Plucking the Daisy at Turner Classic Movies Overview

External links

• Plucking the Daisy at IMDb
• Plucking the Daisy at the TCM Movie Database