Der Damenfriseur

Tired of the IMDb top 250 films? Embarrassed (or bored) with seeing a film like Star Wars on the top of the heap? Then this film may or may not be for you. Not only is it hard to find, it's also not very good. It's another Fernandel/Boyer vehicle, which plays out as a rags to riches story of a sheep shearer turned hair cutter, in a series of sometimes funny vignettes.

The beauty of this film is not in its plot. The fifties were the glory days of French cinema, and millions turned out to watch films like this. Even on into the 60's French audiences did not watch nouvelle vague the way they did farces by the likes of Boyer, Oury and Verneuil; starring comedians like Bourvil, De Funes and Fernandel. These directors had the ability to create distinctively French films, which appealed broadly to the French people.....the sharply focused black and white images of postwar France, the machine-gun delivery of lines (often in a supremely self-assured fashion) , some ridiculous pratfalls (less in this film than in some of the others), and a few healthy dollops of sentiment. Ahh....those were the days. More readily available films; like Roman Holiday, the Tati films, or the Clouseau series; come close to capturing this style.

Right at the opening credits, it says "Fernandel... in French Touch"; apparently he was actually an accomplished singer and actor, but was not the most handsome man around. he was mentioned in a story by French writer Camus. Here, Mario is a common sheep shearer, who starts cutting womens' hair. and even providing more services to the wives... so much talking. it started out as a play by Armont & Garbidon. moves right along. when his wife finds out that he's flirting with all these rich, high society women, she gets very jealous. and rightly so! how can Mario prove to his wife that it's all for show, to keep them coming back for more styling sessions...? directed by Jean Boyer; he was clearly best known for Chocolat... (he was nominated for FIVE oscars for that one.) Produced by Hoche, French film company, which seems to have made films in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. this one on the Cinemoi channel. it's really good. in french, with subtitles. was fun to listen to the français!

Fernandel is a sheep-shearer, a horse decorator, and eventually a hairdresser for ladies; one whose nonsensical names for styles of hairdos and a talent for making women appear youthful earns him a magnificent practice.... and whose extra-curricular attentions to his clientele leave his wife, Arlette Poirier, neglected.

Jean Boyer and Serge Veber adapted this bit of nonsense for the screen, and it gives Fernandel the opportunity to prance around, while a large assortment of beautiful women dance attendance on him. It's a Fernandel vehicle, impure and simple, and quite bizarre as he compares himself to Napoleon and grows increasingly berserk in his amour-propre. Boyer specialized in such popular fluff when he wasn't writing songs for operettas. He died in 1965 at the age of 63.

Saw this via YouTube 8/15/15 in a beautiful print. The first Fernandel movie I've seen, and it was pure pleasure from start to finish.

A country sheep shearer becomes a dog groomer. His talented fingers soon progress to human hair. After impressing many females with his caresses as a coiffeur, he "marries up" and opens a fancy hair salon in Paris. Eventually his skill earns him the Legion of Honor, with amusing twists and turns along the way.

A few observations after watching this film:

First, the beguilingly simple comedic structure would be familiar to Moliere. And Fernandel's "Marius" (or "Mario") character resembles Beaumarchais' Figaro as re-imagined by Horatio Alger.

For a movie released (in France) in 1952 (the USA in 1954), the frank eroticism of the coiffeur's ministrations is surprising. Mario's magic fingers explore the female scalp as an erogenous zone, and the movie makes no effort to conceal the resulting orgasms. On the other hand Mario is more than his distinctive talent. Fernandel seems to represent what many audiences, whether French, American or whatever, would recognize as the deep intelligence that resides in the countryside among simple folk performing unglamorous but useful work, such as sheep-shearing.

This is an effective movie for French language learners. Throughout the film dialogue is spoken colloquially but clearly. Fernandel, a French "southerner", provides a good initiation into the world of regional French accents.

French cinematic art cannot be confined to the New Wave. I think that producing an entertaining movie is in itself a considerable artistic achievement. I should also note here that the production values, the film's fit-and-finish, approach perfection. Even the theme music is very pretty and works as an effective complement to the image and sound track.

Hairstyling's erotic possibilities show up in other films, notable examples of which include Patrice Leconte's "The Hairdresser's Husband" (1990) and "Shampoo" (1975) directed by Hal Ashby.

This is the second Jean Boyer-directed movie I have seen. The first was "We Will All Go to Paris" (1950). So far the guy is 2 for 2 with this viewer.

Last comment: more people should see this movie. It's an hour and a half of good, (mostly) clean fun, expertly conceived and executed. And nobody gets hurt. Just entertained.