French actress Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017) was another mid-century leading lady who did a ton of historical films and TV shows. We recently had a request for a WCW on her, and I admit, I love doing these! I’m always interested to see how actors and costumes change over time (plus, shhh, I don’t have to watch anything to write it). She started off as a musician, got her first role at 14, and rose to fame in the classic Mayerling. Shockingly, she only received her first major film award nomination in 1983 (A Room in Town), but she was given an honorary César in 1985.
Macha in Volga en flammes (1934)
Set in the 18th century, during Catherine the Great‘s reign, “An adventurer has proclaimed himself Czar of the People and resent the countryside at the head of his horde of bandits” (per IMDB).
Annie Bourguet in Le contrôleur des wagons-lits (1935)
Set in 1900, with an incredibly confusing synopsis per IMDB: “Bernard, Sleeper Coach conductor and automobile inventor, is confused to be the racing car company president, and falls in love with a countess, who is actually a slogan prize winner chorine.”
Marie Vetsera in Mayerling (1936)
The adapted from real-life story of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, who had an affair with a 17-year-old (Darrieux), with whom he committed suicide in in 1889.
Marina in Tarass Boulba (1936)
An adaptation of a 17th century novel about a Russian Cossack family who join the war against Poland.
Catherine Dolgorousky in Katia (1938)
A biopic about the real-life mistress (1847-1922) of Tsar Alexander II of Russia (1818-81) and later his morganatic wife.
La reine d’Espagne Marie de Neubourg in Ruy Blas (1948)
A feature film adaptation of the 1838 novel by Victor Hugo, set in Madrid 1699, when a commoner falls in love with the queen.
Amélie d’Avranches in Occupe-toi d’Amélie..! (1949)
AKA Keep an Eye on Amelia. An adaptation of a 1908 comedy with yet another long synopsis: “a rising cocotte in the Paris of 1900, who deceives her rich admirer, agrees to a mock marriage ceremony with an engaging rake to help him secure an inheritance, is herself deceived by a genuine ceremony, has the last laugh by signing the register under a false name and goes off to Venice with the young man on a lovers’ trip” (Wikipedia).
Emma Breitkopf in La Ronde (1950)
An anthology film set in Vienna 1900, featuring various amorous encounters.
Luisa d’Asburgo-Lorena in Romanzo d’amore (1950)
An Italian romance film set in 1902, with a democratic princess meeting the musician Toscelli.
Gabrielle Bonnadieu in La maison Bonnadieu (1951)
The only summary I can find is too long and too French to read (have at it if you care)! But it’s clearly a period film. Where’s the TL;DR?
Madame Rosa (segment “La Maison Tellier”) in Le Plaisir (1952)
Another anthology film, this one adapting various 1880s short stories by Guy de Maupassant.
Comtesse Louise de… in The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
An aristocratic woman sells off a pair of earrings given to her by her husband, setting off a bad chain of events… hence the ominous ellipses!
Madame de Rénal in The Red and the Black (1954)
A man chases upward mobility through romantic liaisons in the post-Napoleonic period.
Eléonore Denuelle in Napoleon (1955)
A historical epic about You Guessed It. Denuelle was Napoleon‘s mistress and the mother of his son.
Françoise Athénaïs de Montespan in The Case of Poisons (1955)
A film about the real-life scandal when it comes to light that various courtiers, including Louis XIV‘s mistress Madame de Montespan, are buying and using poison.
Agnès Sorel in Si Paris nous était conté (1956)
AKA If Paris Were Told to Us. Another of French director Sacha Guitry‘s episodic looks at French society. Sorel (1422-50) was mistress to King Charles VII.
Queen Olympias in Alexander the Great (1956)
An epic feature film about the ancient Macedonian general/king; Olympias was his mother.
Caroline Hédouin in Lovers of Paris (1957)
An adaptation of an 1882 Emile Zola novel about a married woman (Darrieux) who runs a department store; a young man falls in love with her, but things don’t go well.
Henriette d’Entragues in Long Live Henry IV… Long Live Love! (1961)
“King Henri the Fourth [1553-1610] claims his Droit Du Seigneur” per IMDB.
Berthe Heon in Bluebeard (1963)
A “family man” meets women through ads.
Lady Alice Copland in 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman (1968)
Set in 1917, an English widow falls in love with a younger man in Italy.
La comtesse Deverine in Bonheur, impair et passe (1977)
“Angora, a ruined Russian princess, is married to Igor, who, since she deceived him fifteen years ago, disdains her. When Wladimir arrives at her home, everything shatters” per IMDB.
Alicia de Saint-Efflam in Gigi (1987)
A TV movie of the turn-of-the-century courtesan story.
Adeline Whiteoak in Jalna (1994)
All I can tell you is it’s a French TV series!
Mamy in 8 Women (2002)
Set in the 1950s, eight women celebrate Christmas in an isolated cottage, only to find the family patriarch dead and all the women suspects.
Madame de Rosemonde in Dangerous Liaisons (2003)
A French TV miniseries that resets the story in the 1960s, with Catherine Deneuve as Merteuil and Rupert Everett as Valmont (okay THAT I’d like to see…).
Isabel Esteva in Elles et moi (2008)
Another confusing synopsis: “After fleeing their country due to civil war, a father joins the resistance while his wife endures hardship as their children adapt to life in exile. Years later, their daughter, now a costume designer, revisits memories of conflict” (IMDB). You guess what era we’re talking!
What’s your favorite of Danielle Darrieux’s many frock flick performances? Or, which ones are you adding to your list?
I see they didn’t have the courage to show Agnès Sorel’s fashionably bald forehead.
Once a gorgeous little French sexpot, and eventually a fine actress. “The Earrings of Mme. de…” is up there in my 10 favorite films. I own the Criterion Collection edition, and watch it a few nights in a row every several years; there’s always something new to appreciate about the production and the script and the social attitudes. Plus Darrieux’s wardrobe is utterly fab–we need some more photos of those frocks.
The shot from Tarass Boulba… I don’t think that’s a headpiece; it matches the 3-leaf motif at the bottom of the ironwork thingie she’s standing next to.
What a career! She was an A lister from the time of Greta Garbo to the time of Timothée Chalamet
Poor Danielle spent so much of her career stuck in extremely hostile satin! I’m doubly impressed that she kept so beautiful and poised.