Michèle Mercier played a supporting part in the good film noir "Retour De Manivelle";in this film ,she is the star,and displays lots of qualities,a spontaneity and plenty of go,qualities which did not emerge in the late sixties,when she tried her luck at comedies.
After the cast and credits,we are warned: the way to stardom is the rocky road,lots of girls want to become stars of the silver screen,the story you are about to see is about one of those girls and it's inspired by a true story,so pay attention ,blah blah blah...
Leonide Moguy is not much of a director ("Je T'Attendrai aka "Le Deserteur " is his strongest work ,available on DVD );although a bit old -fashioned,and with a reactionary macho ending at that,"Donnez-Moi " still retains a certain passé charm;Mercier is a good lovely lead;the cast includes excellent supporting actors,particularly the inevitable Noel Roquevert as a demanding dramatic art teacher,Ivan Desny as the villain,and mainly Roger Coggio ,who in real life was a drama lover and plays here a director/actor who stages "Hamlet";he remained one of the luminaries of the French theater till his death in 2001;Corinne Marchand ("Cleo De 5 A 7") briefly appears as a starlet,who meets Nicole when she arrives for her audition and has less-than -encouraging-words.
The rest of Mercier's career was rather sad :in 1966 ,she came third actress at the French box-office (after BB and Jeanne Moreau),thanks to the huge success of "Angelique Marquise Des Anges";by 1970,her career was virtually over ;her marquise had killed her.Her Italian career in the early sixties -more than Truffaut's overpraised "Tirez Sur Le Pianiste"-proved that she could do more than a heroine in a watered-down version of Anne And Serge Golon 's absorbing historical novels.
