Les petites demoiselles

For the final day of viewings for the best of 1964 poll taking place on ICM,I decided that I'd wrap up with a short. Having found their film work superb,I was very happy to find a short film by auteurs Michel Deville and Nina Companeez, which led to me meeting the young ladies.

Note:Some spoilers in review.

The plot:

Friends Anne,Caroline, Laurette and Stephanie decide that with each of them having different skills,they should form a job agency for themselves called "Capable of Anything" which promises to do every odd job offered. Receiving more requests than expected, group leader Caroline struggles to keep the work schedule intact,when Anne suddenly disappears to go on a date.

View on the film:

Screened the same year their wonderfully off the wall Noir Lucky Joe (also reviewed) bounced on the screen, co-writer/(with editor Nina Companeez) directing auteur Michel Deville compacts their unique style in 25 minutes, spinning on interviews for new customers being recorded by Companeez's excellent blurring whip-pan jump-cuts,leaping on the frenzied speed the interviews are conducted in, gliding to a jaunty comedy atmosphere cooked up by Deville, served to in a delightful tribute to Lady and the Tramp,with Deville panning the camera between the couple during their quirky romantic meal.

Dancing to the beat of the era, the screenplay by Deville & Companeez twirls neat quirky thumbnail sketches of each woman proudly being independent,who also brings a unique element which makes the team whole,from Anne's breezy nature with customers,to Caroline's straight ahead mind-set in managing the schedule,all tied with chirpy light comedy exchanges darting between the ladies trying to balance work life with the personal.

Joined by a cheerful Marina Vlady cameo, Françoise Dorléac gives a wonderfully playful turn as Anne, whose laid-back nature with her co-workers is changed by Dorléac into a shyness from falling in love,while Macha Méril keeps Caroline brimming with a confidence truly capable of anything.

A short film as an exercise in cinema intended for those who love the French language in the first place and then for those who love those involved, the director, the actresses and the actors. One of the first films of Michel Deville, a French film director with many light comedies to his credit. In the cast are a bunch of later stars of the screen: the beautiful and extremely talented Françoise Dorléac, prematurely disappeared after a car accident in 1967, here in a small role as a young woman in love; the prolific Macha Méril, in a role of a young woman with ideas and a lot of initiative; Anne Tonietti and Ingeborg Schöner in the other two roles from the group of four young women which call themselves the Three Musketeers (which were four); Philippe de Broca and Michael Lonsdale in two small roles; and, also in a small role, the beautiful Marina Vlady, already a star, together with Paul Guers.