Une belle fille comme moi

Starting out "Une belle fille comme moi" seems like it might be going somewhere interesting - The study of the criminal female mind. But this film settles quickly into a silly immature comedy ripe with stereotypes and overacting. Alas, if only any of these were actually funny.

This is one of the best French comedies that I have ever come across. Most of the humour here is pretty silly stuff, but somehow it works, thanks in large part to Lafont's outstanding performance. But what makes this film a truly great piece of work is the unforgettable ending, a finish that cements it as one of the best black comedies that you'll ever see.

Camiile Bliss, is residing in a jail, her activities and actions ended up beyond the pale, but a Sociologist, wants to draft his next thesis, finding out what makes her tick, and where society has failed. So she spins him several yarns for him to knit, he investigates and thinks he can unpick, there's miscarriage in her sentence, doesn't figure out her pretence, that the tale has some flaws, and holes in it.

Bernadette Lafont steals this by a very long country mile, an outstanding performance from a very talented lady, in many ways, as she narrates the events and escapades that landed her in prison. Not the most original piece of filmmaking by today's standards but the production, dialogue and direction compliments the leading lady's performance perfectly.

I must begin by admitting my headlong love for Truffaut's work. As connoisseur ratings go, this might not be his best film (Jules et Jim, Argent de Poche, Le Dernier Metro, Baisers Volés, Tirez sur le Pianiste, and Les 400 Coups are all at least as good and possibly better) but there is just so much life, tongue in cheek, unbridled pleasure in directing and in treating life as art, and the acting is so deceptively simple that I have to say this is probably my most favourite film by one of my most favourite directors. The initial sequence with the young dilettante's flatulent and cursing father kicking her rugby style sets the tone for the rest of the film, consistently pitting the stupidity of the male against the instinctive and openly unscrupulous intelligence of the leading female (there is hope yet in the typist but she is not the one all the men fall in love with...) Glorious comic touches sprinkle the film but if I had to select the cherry on this cake that would be the sequence where Denner, the rat exterminator, is waiting for Bernadette to come back from her visit to the singer. Look at how he tries to establish where the racing cars are that he hears but cannot see on the open road! Oh you must see this!

The first in the new trend of heroic female action movies.

When first introduced to the leading lady, I felt excitement that here was a unique female role played by the perfect actress.

I was feeling like this may be the best movie I had ever seen.

However the ending was a downer.

If she had been redeemed in the end by the love of a good man, this movie would have gone on to recognized for the brilliant creation it is.

I am reminded of the letdown I experienced when Kalisi went bad in Game of Thrones.