In French cinema, the field of comedy proper, as distinct from the decidedly mixed offerings of the nouvelle vague set (namely Jean-Luc Godard,Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut) was primarily left to the devices of the lesser known directors. Philippe de Broca (1933-2004) would follow his Les jeux de l'Amour (The Lovers,1960), essentially an extension of the original story - of a girl who desires to have a child and a man who is adverse to the idea - as Godard's Une Femme Est (A Woman is a Woman,1961) with several similar featherweight comedies and the popular satire-adventure film L'homme de Rio (That Man from Rio,1964) that featured an in prime Jean-Paul Belmondo. But his later work would prove less successful. The actor turned director Jean-Pierre Mocky (b.1929) would also make an impact with his early films, the social satires Les dragueurs (The Chasers,1959), Un Couple (A Couple,1960), penned by the self-proclaimed cynic Raymond Queaneau, and Snobs (1961).
Though contemporary with, than properly a part of the nouvelle vague, Michel Deville (b.1931) warrants mention for keeping alive the tradition of French comedy with Ce soir ou jamais (Tonight or Never,1960), Adorable Menteuse (1961) and Because of a Woman,1962), but only the atypical period piece Benjamin ou Les memoires d'un puceau (The Diary of an Innocent Boy) achieved significant international showing, but his finest hour would arrive in the year 1988, when he turned his heady comedy Le lectrice (The Reader) and that would garner considerable universal acclaim.
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| Machil Meril is compos Menteuse in this 1961 Michel Deville number |
The traditional comedy of mime, in the vein of the unparalleled Jacques Tati, was explored by professional clown and director Pierre Etaix (b.1928) first with the memorable eleven-minute short - Rupture (Break Up,1961) and the subsequent Heureux anniversaire (Happy Anniversary,1962) ,Le soupirant (The Suitor) and the Cannes dazzler Yoyo (1965) in which Etaix himself would star in the title role.
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