''Women's Prison'' or ''Women's Prisons'' (French: ''Prisons de femmes'') is a 1938 French

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 by

Roger Richebé Roger Richebé (3 December 1897 – 10 July 1989), born Roger Gustave Richebé, was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was born in Marseille and died in Ville-d'Avray. Selected filmography * ' (1930) (producer) * '' La donn ...

and starring

Viviane Romance Viviane Romance (born Pauline Ronacher Ortmanns; 4 July 1912 – 25 September 1991) was a French actress. Viviane Romance was born in Roubaix, France. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. She was elected Miss Paris of 19 ...

Renée Saint-Cyr Renée Saint-Cyr (; 16 November 1904 – 11 July 2004) was a French actress. Born Marie-Louise Catherine Eugénie Renée Vittore, she appeared in more than 60 films between 1933 and 1994. She was the mother of Georges Lautner, who also achie ...

and

Marguerite Deval Marguerite Deval (19 September 1866 – 18 December 1955) was a French singer and actress. Born Marguerite Hippolyte Juliette Brulfer, she was a comedian, opera chanteuse, and actress of stage and film. She was born in Strasbourg and died in Par ...

. Based on the 1930 novel of the same title by

Francis Carco Francis Carco (born François Carcopino-Tusoli) (3 July 1886 – 26 May 1958) was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the ''Fantaisiste'' school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for ''L'Homme libre ...

, it was remade twice as the 1947 Swedish film ''

Two Women ''Two Women'' ( , rough literal translation "The Woman from Ciociaria") is a 1960 war drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica from a screenplay he co-wrote with Cesare Zavattini, based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia. ...

'' and the 1958 French film ''

Women's Prison Approximately 741,000 women are incarcerated in correctional facilities, a 17% increase since 2010 and the female prison population has been increasing across all continents.Neuilly Studios Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the Bois de Boulogne, the area is composed of ...

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 ...

with scenes also shot at the Convent of the Ursulines in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. 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 ...

Roland Quignon Roland Quignon (1897–1984) was a French art director.Crisp p.151 He designed the sets for more than fifty films during his career. He also directed four films. Selected filmography * '' His Other Love'' (1934) * '' Bourrasque'' (1935) * '' The ...

. Along with another contemporary film '' Prison Without Bars'' it portrayed the female inhabitants with sympathy. Both films were successful at the box office.Crisp p.221 Despite its title, only a few scenes take place in prison and it mostly follows a character after she has been released from jail marries an

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and attempts to start a new life.

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, Colin. ''French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 1, 1929–1939''. Indiana University Press, 2015. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Larsson, Mariah & Marklund, Anders. ''Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader''. Nordic Academic Press, 2010.

External links

* 1938 films 1938 drama films French drama films 1930s French-language films Films directed by Roger Richebé French black-and-white films Films set in Paris Films based on French novels 1930s French films Films scored by Jean Lenoir Films shot at Neuilly Studios Films shot in Montpellier {{1930s-France-film-stub