''The Virtuous Scoundrel'' (French: ''La Vie d'un honnête homme''), is a 1953 French

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed and written by

Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (; 21 February 188524 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre (aesthetic), boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French ac ...

and starring

Michel Simon Michel Simon (; 9 April 1895 – 30 May 1975) was a Swiss actor of German origin active primarily in France. Marguerite Pierry Marguerite Pierry (26 December 1887, Paris – 20 January 1963, Paris) was a French actress. Selected filmography * ''On purge bébé'' (1931) * '' Adémaï in the Middle Ages'' (1935) * '' Paris Camargue'' (1935) * '' The Two Boys'' (1936) * ...

and

Laurence Badie Laurence Badie (15 June 1928 – 11 January 2024) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 100 films since 1952. Badie died on 11 January 2024, at the age of 95. Badie was also a prolific voice actress, having voiced Velma Dinkley in the ...

.Crisp p.263 It was shot at Photosonor Studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and on location in the city. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Aimé Bazin.

Synopsis

Two

twin brother Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

s have lived apart for many years. Albert has become a financial success and lives a very rigid life with his family while Alain is a free spirit enjoying a series of adventures travelling the world. After meeting Alain dies from a heart attack and on a spur of the moment Albert changes clothes with him and begins to enjoy his newfound freedom. However his wife, believing herself now to be a widow, attempts to marry who she thinks is Alain as he has inherited all of his brother's wealth.

Cast

as Madeleine Lacoste, wife of Albert *

as Juliette Lacoste, the daughter of Albert and Madeleine *

François Guérin François Guérin (; 1927–2003) was a French film and television actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional m ...

as Pierre Lacoste, the son of Albert and Madeleine *

Louis de Funès Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in fi ...

as Emile, the valet of the Ménard-Lacoste *

Claude Gensac Claude Gensac (1 March 1927 – 27 December 2016) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 70 films and television productions since 1952. Gensac is the oldest nominee to date in the category César Award for Best Supporting Actress, nomi ...

as Evelyne *

Léon Walther Léon Walther (2 June 1874 – 2 March 1973) was a French film and stage actor who played on numerous occasions in Sacha Guitry's films and plays. Filmography * 1935: ''Odette / Déchéance'' by Jacques Houssin – Count Hubert de Clermont-L ...

as Maître Denisot *

Michel Nastorg Michel Nastorg (1914–1984) was a French actor. During World War II he was called into the French army as Soldier Second Class. With the Seventh Army he retreated from Belgium before a fierce German onslaught, and found himself at Dunkirk in Ju ...

as Le mécanicien * Marthe Salbel as Marie, cousin of Ménard-Lacoste *

Pauline Carton Pauline Carton (; 4 July 1884 – 17 June 1974) was a French film actress. She appeared in more than 190 films between 1907 and 1974. Filmography * ''La fille du Boche'' (1915) * '' Blanchette'' (1921) * ''La femme de nulle part'' (1922) * ''C ...

as the patroness of the hotel *

Lana Marconi Lana Marconi (born Ecaterina Ileana Marcovici; 8 September 1917 in Bucharest, Romania – 8 December 1990) was a Romanian-French actress, and the fifth and last wife of the famous French actor-director-playwright Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pier ...

as a prostitute, nicknamed "la comtesse" *

Georges Bever Georges Bever (1884–1973) was a French film and television actor.Goble p.38 Selected filmography * '' The Crystal Submarine '' (1927) * '' Chérie'' (1930) * ''The Man in Evening Clothes'' (1931) * '' I'll Be Alone After Midnight'' (1931) * '' ...

as the taxi driver *

André Brunot André Brunot (3 October 1879 - 6 August 1973) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than twenty films from 1910 to 1966. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunot, Andre 1879 births 1973 deaths French male ...

as the doctor Ogier *

Marcel Pérès Marcel Pérès (born 15 July 1956, Oran, Algeria) is a French musicologist, composer, choral director and singer, and the founder of the early music group Ensemble Organum. He is an authority on Gregorian and pre-Gregorian chant. Pérès was ...

as the commissary Vincent *

Max Dejean Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

as the innkeeper *

Marcel Mouloudji Marcel André Mouloudji (16 September 1922 – 14 June 1994) was a French singer and actor who was born in Paris and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He sang songs written by Boris Vian and Jacques Prévert. Personal life Mouloudji was born to Algeria ...

as Le chanteur *

as Self

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, Colin. ''French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 2, 1940–1958''. Indiana University Press, 2015.

External links

*
La Vie d’un honnête homme (1953)
at the ''Films de France'' 1953 films French comedy-drama films 1953 comedy-drama films 1950s French-language films French black-and-white films Films directed by Sacha Guitry Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris 1950s French films Films scored by Louiguy {{1950s-France-film-stub