''Plucking the Daisy'' (french: En effeuillant la marguerite) is a 1956 French comedy film directed by

Marc Allégret Marc Allégret (22 December 1900 – 3 November 1973) was a French screenwriter, photographer and film director. Biography Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer in ...

and starring

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

. It was also known as ''Mam'selle Striptease'' and ''Please Mr Balzac''. ''Turner Classic Movies'' called it "a typical French romantic comedy... complete with a meet-cute on a train, and plenty of loving shots of Bardot's pert behind.... typical of the suggestive but innocuous films that Bardot made early in her career."

Plot

General Dumont discovers that his daughter Agnes is "A.D.", author of a scandalous under-the-counter novel. He tries to send her to a convent but she escapes to Paris to live with her brother. On the train she meets Daniel, a journalist. Agnes thinks her brother is a rich artist but he's actually a poor guide in the Balzac Museum. Agnes needs money and enters an amateur striptease contest. Daniel is covering the contest for his magazine.

Cast

as Agnès Dumont *

Daniel Gélin Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin (19 May 1921 – 29 November 2002) was a French film and television actor. Early life Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne (née Le Méner) and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin. When he was ten, ...

as Daniel Roy * Robert Hirsch as Roger Vital *

Darry Cowl Darry Cowl (born André Darricau; 27 August 1925 – 14 February 2006) was a French comedian, actor and musician. He won a César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2004 for his role as a concierge in '' Pas sur la bouche'' (''Not on ...

as Hubert Dumont *

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s in ...

as Sofia *

Nadine Tallier Nadine de Rothschild (née Nadine Nelly Jeannette Lhopitalier; born 18 April 1932) is a French author and former actress. She is the widow of banker Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family. Biography Nadine Lhopitalier ...

as Magali *

Jacques Dumesnil Jacques Dumesnil (born Marie Émile Eugène André Joly; November 9, 1903 – May 8, 1998) was a French film and television actor. Early life Jacques Dumesnil was born as Marie Émile Eugène André Joly on November 9, 1903 in Paris, France ...

as General Dumont * Madeleine Barbulée as Mme Dumont *

Georges Chamarat Georges Chamarat (30 March 1901 – 21 November 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than 100 films and television shows between 1929 and 1981. He starred in the film '' The Adventures of Arsène Lupin'', which was entered into the ...

as Bacchus *

Mischa Auer Mischa Auer (born Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky (Михаил Семёнович Унковский; 17 November 1905 – 5 March 1967) was a Russians, Russian-born American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in fi ...

as Alexis * Mauricet as Mr. Valentin * Yves-Marie Maurin as Toto *

Patrick Maurin Patrick Dewaere (26 January 1947 – 16 July 1982) was a French film actor. Born in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, he was the son of French actress Mado Maurin. Actor from a young age, his career lasted more than 21 years, until his suicide in P ...

as Agnès' younger brother *

Jacques Jouanneau Jacques Jouanneau (3 October 1926 – 19 July 2011) was a French actor. He was born in Angers, France. Biography Filmography *1953: ''Capitaine Pantoufle'' - Le barman du Goéland (uncredited) *1954: ''Les Intrigantes'' - Le Reporter (un ...

as Edouard *

Henri Garcin Henri Garcin (born Anton Albers; 11 April 1928 – 13 June 2022) was a Belgian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1956 to 2022. Selected filmography * ''Mademoiselle and Her Gang'' (1957) * '' Mata Hari, Agent H21'' (1964) * ' ...

as one of Daniel's friends *

Jean-Loup Philippe Jean-Loup Philippe (born 24 March 1936) is a French actor, writer and director of film and theatre He is best known for his role in Jean Rollin's 1975 horror classic ''Lèvres de sang''.Richey, Jeremy (February 8, 2009) He had collaborated will ...

as one of Daniel's friends *

Michel Constantin Michel Constantin (born Constantin Hokhloff, 13 July 1924 – 29 August 2003) was a French film actor. Biography Born to a Russian father and a Polish mother in Billancourt (near Paris), Constantin made his first film appearance in 1956. ...

as Un spectateur du strip-tease *

Marc Eyraud Marc Eyraud (1 March 1924 – 15 February 2005) was a French film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1956 and 1995. Partial filmography * ''Plucking the Daisy'' (1956) - Un photographe (uncredited) * ''The Man in the Raincoat'' (1957) ...

as a photographer *

Françoise Arnoul Françoise Arnoul (born Françoise Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch; 3 June 1931 – 20 July 2021) was a French actress, who achieved popularity during the 1950s. Early life Born in Constantine, French Algeria, as the daughter of stage ac ...

as herself

Production

Roger Vadim had just written a movie which launched Bardot as a leading lady, ''Naughty Girl''. He called this movie "a hack job based on an 'original idea' by the producer which was anything but original... I changed the plot and wrote an amusing, romantic and sexy story."

Reception

In 1956, the film was the 20th most popular of the year, at the French box office. It was released before Bardot's film '' And God Created Woman'', which was the 13th most popular and '' Naughty Girl'' which was 12th. It was released in the US as ''Mademoiselle Striptease''. The ''Washington Post'' called it "one of the nicest comedies of the summer." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "a most delightful, naughty and very funny comedy... Bardot strikes pure gold... it's strictly a fun show that doesn't try to prove a thing." It was also released in the US as ''Please Mr Balzac''. The ''New York Times'' said the "sole excuse for this singularly unfrothy and unfunny romantic comedy is Brigitte Bardot.... thin, old-fashioned, slightly smutty and extremely dull charade... The picture is pretty awful. It needn't have been."

References

External links

*
''Plucking the Daisy''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

''Plucking the Daisy''
at BFI
Review of film
at DVD Journal {{Roger Vadim French comedy films 1950s French films 1956 comedy films French black-and-white films