''Plucking the Daisy'' (french: En effeuillant la marguerite) is a 1956 French comedy film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Brigitte Bardot. It was also known as ''Mam'selle Striptease'' and ''Please Mr Balzac''. ''Turner Classic Movies'' called it "a typical French romantic comedy... complete with a meet-cute on a train, and plenty of loving shots of Bardot's pert behind.... typical of the suggestive but innocuous films that Bardot made early in her career."

Plot

General Dumont discovers that his daughter Agnes is "A.D.", author of a scandalous under-the-counter novel. He tries to send her to a convent but she escapes to Paris to live with her brother. On the train she meets Daniel, a journalist. Agnes thinks her brother is a rich artist but he's actually a poor guide in the Balzac Museum. Agnes needs money and enters an amateur striptease contest. Daniel is covering the contest for his magazine.

Cast

* Brigitte Bardot as Agnès Dumont * Daniel Gélin as Daniel Roy * Robert Hirsch as Roger Vital *

Darry Cowl Darry Cowl (born André Darricau; 27 August 1925 – 14 February 2006) was a French comedian, actor and musician. He won a César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2004 for his role as a concierge in '' Pas sur la bouche'' (''Not on ...

as Hubert Dumont *

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s in ...

as Sofia *

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as Magali * Jacques Dumesnil as General Dumont * Madeleine Barbulée as Mme Dumont * Georges Chamarat as Bacchus * Mischa Auer as Alexis * Mauricet as Mr. Valentin * Yves-Marie Maurin as Toto *

Patrick Maurin Patrick Dewaere (26 January 1947 – 16 July 1982) was a French film actor. Born in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, he was the son of French actress Mado Maurin. Actor from a young age, his career lasted more than 21 years, until his suicide in P ...

as Agnès' younger brother *

Jacques Jouanneau Jacques Jouanneau (3 October 1926 – 19 July 2011) was a French actor. He was born in Angers, France. Biography Filmography *1953: ''Capitaine Pantoufle'' - Le barman du Goéland (uncredited) *1954: ''Les Intrigantes'' - Le Reporter (un ...

as Edouard * Henri Garcin as one of Daniel's friends * Jean-Loup Philippe as one of Daniel's friends *

Michel Constantin Michel Constantin (born Constantin Hokhloff, 13 July 1924 – 29 August 2003) was a French film actor. Biography Born to a Russian father and a Polish mother in Billancourt (near Paris), Constantin made his first film appearance in 1956. ...

as Un spectateur du strip-tease * Marc Eyraud as a photographer * Françoise Arnoul as herself

Production

Roger Vadim had just written a movie which launched Bardot as a leading lady, ''Naughty Girl''. He called this movie "a hack job based on an 'original idea' by the producer which was anything but original... I changed the plot and wrote an amusing, romantic and sexy story."

Reception

In 1956, the film was the 20th most popular of the year, at the French box office. It was released before Bardot's film '' And God Created Woman'', which was the 13th most popular and '' Naughty Girl'' which was 12th. It was released in the US as ''Mademoiselle Striptease''. The ''Washington Post'' called it "one of the nicest comedies of the summer." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "a most delightful, naughty and very funny comedy... Bardot strikes pure gold... it's strictly a fun show that doesn't try to prove a thing." It was also released in the US as ''Please Mr Balzac''. The ''New York Times'' said the "sole excuse for this singularly unfrothy and unfunny romantic comedy is Brigitte Bardot.... thin, old-fashioned, slightly smutty and extremely dull charade... The picture is pretty awful. It needn't have been."

References

External links

*
''Plucking the Daisy''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

''Plucking the Daisy''
at BFI
Review of film
at DVD Journal {{Roger Vadim French comedy films 1950s French films 1956 comedy films French black-and-white films