Micheline Luccioni(1930-1992)

Exuberant and funny theater actress who excelled in light comedies (Feydeau's "Le système Ribardier", "Chat en poche"; Françoise Dorin's "L'étiquette"; Remo Forlani's "Le divan", "Un roi qui a des malheurs", "Guerre et paix au café Sneffe"), Micheline Luccioni did not have the movie career she deserved. Used too often as the mocking prostitute or the provocative floosie in the office, she nevertheless played these roles with the appropriate jocular insolence. No wonder that she usually appeared in comedies written and/or directed by Michel Audiard. She was indeed one of those colorful ladies (along with Françoise Rosay, Ginette Leclerc, Jacqueline Maillan, among others) whose down-to-earth liveliness allowed them to deliver for what they are worth the biting lines polished up by the French green language master. All in all, Micheline Luccioni appeared in few memorable films. She even squandered her talent in bombs signed Michel Gérard or Richard Balducci. But she did have good moments in "Pot Bouille", the 1957 adaptation of Emile Zola's classic by Julien Duvivier (as the hysterical sister-in-law)and as one of Valentine Tessier's daughters in Jean-Claude Brialy's directorial debut "Eglantine" (1971). She was fine too in Adam Pianko's wonderful "On n'est pas sérieux quand on a 17 ans", about teen pregnancy. Micheline Luccioni played the difficult role of the 15-year-old girl's mother with subtle nuances, a touching character lights years away from the loud-mouthed woman she was wont to play. This could - and should - have been the beginning of a new career but alas the film was little seen and nothing came out of it.