The Female (1959 film)
The Female (French: La Femme et le Pantin, Italian: Femmina), released in the United Kingdom as A Woman Like Satan, is a 1959 French-Italian drama film directed by Julien Duvivier. It is the third adaptation of the novel La Femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs.
La Femme et le Pantin / Femmina | |
---|---|
Directed by | Julien Duvivier |
Produced by | Christine Gouze-Rénal Fred Surin |
Written by | Julien Duvivier Albert Valentin Jean Aurenche Screenplay Marcel Achard Dialogues |
Based on | La Femme et le pantin[1] by Pierre Louÿs |
Starring | Brigitte Bardot |
Music by | Jean Wiener José Rocca |
Cinematography | Roger Hubert |
Edited by | Jacqueline Sadoul |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | France Italy |
Language | French |
Box office | 2,453,892 admissions (France)[2] |
Plot
Mateo Diaz is a wealthy gentleman who loves and respects his wife but doesn't find her attractive any longer because she is paralysed. He already has a certain reputation among women. Accordingly, he doesn't hesitate to get close to Eva Marchand as soon as he has realised her beauty. But to his surprise she can't be bothered to show any appreciation for his advances. He begins trying to explain and justify his way of life and his interest in her. The more he tries, the harder she makes it on him. Eventually he is so humiliated that even his walk shows he is a broken man and that is the end of story.
Cast
- Brigitte Bardot – Éva Marchand
- António Vilar – Don Mateo Diaz
- Lila Kedrova – Manuela
- Daniel Ivernel – Berthier
- Darío Moreno – Arbadajian
- Jacques Mauclair – Stanislas Marchand
- Jess Hahn – Sidney
Production
Brigitte Bardot writes in her autobiography[3] that the crew used to call the director "Dudu" but despite that, their rapport wasn't always perfect during the making of this film. She also stresses how the shooting in Sevilla during the Seville Fair became a hardship because of the heat.
See also
- The Woman and the Puppet (1920)
- The Devil is a Woman (1935)
- That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
References
- "La Femme et le pantin von Pierre Louÿs (e-book download)". Retrieved 2011-02-12.
- Box office information for film at Box office story
- Extrait de ses mémoires, Initiales BB, Éditions Grasset, Paris, 1996, ISBN 2-246-52601-9
External links
- The Female on IMDb
- The Female at AllMovie