Clémentine chérie (1963)
Directed by Pierre Chevalier

Film Review

Low grade comedies and tacky erotica were the stock-in-trade of director Pierre Chevalier and both genres are catered for in this dismal laugh-free comedy.  Clémentine chérie feels like a lame reworking of Alexander Mackendrick's The Man in the White Suit (1951) but has none of that film's charm or entertainment value.  What talent there is in this film is confined solely to the supporting cast - the principals Pierre Doris, Adrienne Servantie and France Anglade offer as much comedy value as an outbreak of bubonic plague in an orphanage.  Michel Galabru and Philippe Noiret, both on the first rung of their careers, do their best to brighten things up but their efforts are pretty well wasted, although the greatest indignity is reserved for Jacques Dufilho, dragged up as a Spanish maid.  A lazily cobbled together compendium of borrowed gags, Clémentine chérie is mainstream French comedy at its most tedious and unsophisticated.

Film Synopsis

Monsieur Bellus, a modest employee in a textiles factory, suddenly finds fame and fortune when he happens across a remarkable new fabric.  Not only is this revolutionary material elastic, it also allows the sun's rays to pass straight through, allowing the wearer to acquire an all-over body tan.  Bellus plans to launch the new fabric with a beauty parade, in which his own daughter Clémentine will represent France.  Disaster strikes when it is discovered that the material has another bizarre property: it does not show up on photographs...