Der schöne Octave

In addition to Honore de BALZAC, Emile ZOLA also made life in Paris, the world capital of the 19th century, the subject of his novels. Well-known characters also appear again and again. In the novel THE FINE HOUSE (or THE DOMESTIC STOVE) it is the young Octave Mouret who ends up in Paris from the provinces.

In Julien DUVIVIER's film, the busy Octave is played by the jack-of-all-trades Gerard PHILIPE (1922-1959). He lives in an apartment building and works in Madame Hedouin's (Danielle DARRIEUX) laundry shop. In the oh-so-fine apartment building, it's like a cooking pot (hence POT BOUILLE) in which everything is thrown together. Gossip, hypocrisy and lots of affairs! First of all, the good Octave, which can't let anything burn. His true love is for the cool Madame Hedouin. Octave also turns out to be a great business talent, which will play an important role in the sequel THE LADIES' PARADISE. Then it's about the emergence of the large department stores, which were to begin their triumphal march around the world from Paris.

Fun cinema from France, shot in the Billancourt studios! The later ACADEMY AWARD nominee Anouk AIMEE, Jacques DUBY and Dany CARREL also appear in other roles, and she also shows off a few breast flashes. Only French cinema offered something like this in the 1950s.