Au bonheur des dames

André Cayatte's "Au Bonheur des Dames" is based on Emile Zola eponymous novel. It depicts the rise of "Magasin de nouveauté" eg big Department Store in Paris in mid XIXe Century. It is known that Emile Zola actually based his novel on the rise of "Le Bon Marché", a famous Magasin de Nouveauté in Paris. The film was shot during Second World War by the German based society, Continental. The story describe the struggle between a small shop "Le vieille Elbeuf" and "Le Bonheur des dames". At the end, "Le bonheur des dames" wins, but his owner appears to be a good guy. This film is one of the most famous from Cayatte. The actor Michel Simon is in one of his best roles.

1.EMILE ZOLA THis Emile Zola novel,the 11th in the Rougon-Maquart saga depicts the misfortunes of the small shopkeepers at the end of the nineteenth century,when giants like the "Au Bonheur des Dames" began to attract most of the (esssentially female )clientele.As far the characters are concerned ,it's one of the weakest Zola ever wrote.But it's an invaluable document of a fashion phenomenon and Zola's depictions of the ancestors of mode supermarkets are preciseness itself,although a bit boring for a modern reader.It's also notable as the last of Zola's optimistic works :after his father's death,its subsequent books would turn black as the follow-up to "au bonheur des dames" ,"la joie de vivre" (in spite of its title!) testified.

2.ANDRE CAYATTE André Cayatte's career is composed of two distinct parts;roughly 1942-1950:literary adaptations:Zola,Maupassant;the best of this first phase was arguably "les amants de Vérone" which certainly influenced François TRuffaut(who despised Cayatte though) for "la nuit américaine" ("day for night").Then from 1950 onwards ,it was the "legal" period:a former lawyer,Cayatte began to champion all the good causes :plenty of miscarriages of justice,plenty of trials ,which made,in a way,Cayatte a forerunner of the current court movies so dear to today's directors.

3.ANDRE CAYATTE AND EMILE ZOLA This movie,although it belongs to Cayatte's first phase,displays elements which will emerge afterwards:the heroine 's plea for an improvement of the exploited sales assistants' situation,and Mouret's-the owner of the "Au Bonheur des Dames" department stores final speech -which reflect Zola's socialist ideas .This predates the future "and justice for all" which will become Cayatte's motto as a director.

4.CHARACTERS AND CAST: As I mentioned above,the characters are not that much interesting in "au bonheur des dames" and their evolution is downright predictable. Of course ,Michel Simon stands out:as the small shopkeeper whom Mouret defeats (David and Goliath),he's as impressive as usual:but his appearances are too few and far between .Apart from Simon,best performance comes from Suzy Prim as a rich unscrupulous woman ,who tries to conquer Mouret.The main love interest(between Mouret and Simon's niece) is bland.

Emile Zola, as the Warner Brothers graphically demonstrated some years back, was a handy man with a lance, splintering quite a few in just causes. And the French film makers, not unaware of the scope of the novelist's jousts, have taken another, albeit one of his less notable indictments, "Au Bonheur des Dames," and have fashioned it into an interesting, often satiric although sometimes shallow delineation of the ills that beset the nineteenth-century Paris working girl and small business men.

For, "Shop-Girls of Paris," the adaptation of "Au Bonheur des Dames," speaks an honest, angry piece but occasionally employs the obvious, heavy-handed approach of slick dramas to make its points.

The shopgirls of M. Mouret's department store, who not only work but also live and eat there, are entirely at the mercy of the young, grasping and forceful owner, as is Baudu, the aged, irascible proprietor of Le Vieil Elbeuf, the tiny, moribund emporium next door. Mouret, a visionary who sees himself as the boss of the world's largest store, is not averse to cutting prices, surreptitiously buying up his old competitor's shop, introducing white sales and the return of purchases to make good his planned, merchandising colossus. He is not averse also to a sly, pseudo-romantic liaison with his rich neighbor, Mme Desforges, and indiscriminate dismissals among his staff, to attain his ends. It is only when Baudu's niece, who has gone to work in the new largest business of its kind, scathingly denounces the boss and his practices, that Mouret, who has fallen in love with his spirited clerk, institutes sweeping reforms.

Michel Simon, bearded and craggy-faced, as the embittered Baudu, who has never been able to accumulate enough of a dowry for his daughter and clerk to marry on, gives a convincing portrayal except for moments of rage, when typical Gallic shouting and arm waving supplant true histrionics. Blanchette Brunoy is an appealing and beautiful figure as his niece, while Albert Prejean is expert as the suave store owner with an eye for the ladies and business.

Jean Tissier, as his oily and hard lieutenant, and Suzy Prim, as the designing dame who has a way of combining sharp realty practices with romantic flings contributes deft, humorous portrayals in heading the large, supporting cast.