How did I come to "La Fête à Henriette", besides the fact that I am a Cinephile?
First. I was always (since its release) very fond of "Le Magnifique" (1973), almost the only Belmondo one I love (I wrote/detailed the French Wikipedia article). It's the story of a writer (Belmondo) who writes a spy/thriller book, who meets a beautiful student lady (Bisset), who encounters problems with his publisher and who, finally, mixes all these elements in his book. It means we movies goers can watch two stories with the very same actors, in the real world and in the book. Without any doubt (imho), "Le Magnifique" is one of the ten best French comedies ever.
I was indeed very in love with the idea of throwing the reality in the fiction. Of course I knew it was not the first time some Mise en Abyme was put in a film but it was obviously the first time with a writer avenging his poor real life in his books.
Second. Then, recently, TCM Europe showed a lot of Audrey Hepburn movies I never saw. Among them was "Paris - When It Sizzles" (1964), with William Holden. Right after a few minutes I knew for sure where the idea of "Le Magnifique" came from! Holden plays a screenwriter who is very late in delivering his next opus and Hepburn is sent to him in Paris by the Hollywood producer to speed up the writing. Besides the predictable love story, the film divides itself in two parts, their reality and the fiction they're writing together and Hepburn (150% fabulous as always) and Holden play the four characters. The movie is real fun end very entertaining and very intelligently conceived.
Third. Knowing a new gem like this "Paris", I read on the net (en.wikipedia for instance) everything I could about it, whoa, just to learn it was an adaptation of a French movie, "La fête à Henriette" (1952). By chance, there was some discussion about it on an IMDb board and, as wrote user Benoît A. Racine in his comment, "A pen pal from the IMDb was good enough to send me a VHS copy of this French classic unavailable in America." I got a DVD instead he he and, as well, the film is not watchable in Europe. Many thanks again to "him" for his help and his sending to me the Duvivier one.
I finally watched it and noticed all converging points between "Paris" and "Henriette". Let's say "Henriette" is much more conceptual and less entertaining than "Paris", more of a game with the spectator and less of a logical story form A to Z (it's not its goal anyhow). Clearly the biggest difference with "Paris" and "Le Magnifique" is the fact that the actors of the reality (the writers of a script and their numerous secretaries) do not play in the fiction. The main point according to me is really: more conceptual.
Besides, it's pretty fun to see some actors (Auclair, Seigner, Roux) quite young in "Henriette" because they were known at that time and later more as second range stars: their true career came later, in the movies or on the stage. Robin was an important star in the 40s and 50s.
If you want to learn more: Reading over here all comments by reliable IMDb users rastar-1, dbdumonteil, writers_reign and Benoît A. Racine will bring you everything relevant you need about the movie: the plot, the style, the inventive director, the great actors, etc.
Finally, I have to confess I have not seen a lot of Duvivier's movies: I know very well "Marianne de ma jeunesse", which is a very special story, plenty out of time, deeply concerned with poetry and fantasy; I know as well the two "Don Camillo" he made with Fernandel; "La Femme et le panting" with Bardot from a book by Louÿs I read; "La Belle équipe" with Gabin... and it seems to be all. To bad because only "Marianne" and "Henriette" show he is a very important director in history, much more than most of the Nouvelle vague ones, and who was a visionary. Very worth to see, both the movie and any other film by him. "Henriette", a must see!
First. I was always (since its release) very fond of "Le Magnifique" (1973), almost the only Belmondo one I love (I wrote/detailed the French Wikipedia article). It's the story of a writer (Belmondo) who writes a spy/thriller book, who meets a beautiful student lady (Bisset), who encounters problems with his publisher and who, finally, mixes all these elements in his book. It means we movies goers can watch two stories with the very same actors, in the real world and in the book. Without any doubt (imho), "Le Magnifique" is one of the ten best French comedies ever.
I was indeed very in love with the idea of throwing the reality in the fiction. Of course I knew it was not the first time some Mise en Abyme was put in a film but it was obviously the first time with a writer avenging his poor real life in his books.
Second. Then, recently, TCM Europe showed a lot of Audrey Hepburn movies I never saw. Among them was "Paris - When It Sizzles" (1964), with William Holden. Right after a few minutes I knew for sure where the idea of "Le Magnifique" came from! Holden plays a screenwriter who is very late in delivering his next opus and Hepburn is sent to him in Paris by the Hollywood producer to speed up the writing. Besides the predictable love story, the film divides itself in two parts, their reality and the fiction they're writing together and Hepburn (150% fabulous as always) and Holden play the four characters. The movie is real fun end very entertaining and very intelligently conceived.
Third. Knowing a new gem like this "Paris", I read on the net (en.wikipedia for instance) everything I could about it, whoa, just to learn it was an adaptation of a French movie, "La fête à Henriette" (1952). By chance, there was some discussion about it on an IMDb board and, as wrote user Benoît A. Racine in his comment, "A pen pal from the IMDb was good enough to send me a VHS copy of this French classic unavailable in America." I got a DVD instead he he and, as well, the film is not watchable in Europe. Many thanks again to "him" for his help and his sending to me the Duvivier one.
I finally watched it and noticed all converging points between "Paris" and "Henriette". Let's say "Henriette" is much more conceptual and less entertaining than "Paris", more of a game with the spectator and less of a logical story form A to Z (it's not its goal anyhow). Clearly the biggest difference with "Paris" and "Le Magnifique" is the fact that the actors of the reality (the writers of a script and their numerous secretaries) do not play in the fiction. The main point according to me is really: more conceptual.
Besides, it's pretty fun to see some actors (Auclair, Seigner, Roux) quite young in "Henriette" because they were known at that time and later more as second range stars: their true career came later, in the movies or on the stage. Robin was an important star in the 40s and 50s.
If you want to learn more: Reading over here all comments by reliable IMDb users rastar-1, dbdumonteil, writers_reign and Benoît A. Racine will bring you everything relevant you need about the movie: the plot, the style, the inventive director, the great actors, etc.
Finally, I have to confess I have not seen a lot of Duvivier's movies: I know very well "Marianne de ma jeunesse", which is a very special story, plenty out of time, deeply concerned with poetry and fantasy; I know as well the two "Don Camillo" he made with Fernandel; "La Femme et le panting" with Bardot from a book by Louÿs I read; "La Belle équipe" with Gabin... and it seems to be all. To bad because only "Marianne" and "Henriette" show he is a very important director in history, much more than most of the Nouvelle vague ones, and who was a visionary. Very worth to see, both the movie and any other film by him. "Henriette", a must see!