''Long Live Maria!'' (French: ''Viva Maria'') is a 1965 French/Italian co-production

adventure comedy The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

film starring

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with Hedonism, hedonistic life ...

and

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

as two women named Maria who meet and become revolutionaries in the early 20th century. It also starred George Hamilton as Florès, a revolutionary leader. It was co-written and directed by

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made document ...

, and filmed in

Eastman Color Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was o ...

. The costumes were by

Pierre Cardin Pierre Cardin (born Pietro Costante Cardin; 2 July 1922 – 29 December 2020) was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometry, geometric shap ...

. It was released in both French and an English-dubbed version.

Plot synopsis

In 1907, in a Central American country called San Miguel, Maria II, the daughter of an

Irish Republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

anarchist, meets Maria I, the singer of a circus. After her father dies, Maria II hides in the circus where she sees Maria I's partner commit suicide after a failed love affair. Both Marias agree to form a theatrical team. In her debut as a singer, Maria II accidentally invents

striptease A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper", "exotic d ...

, an action that lets the circus achieve great fame. Shortly afterwards the Marias meet Florès, a socialist revolutionary. He invites them to join his cause, a revolution against "El Dictador", but Florès is soon shot. On his deathbed he makes Maria I promise to carry through with his cause and she agrees. Though at first reluctant to acquiesce to Florès' and Maria I's endeavor, Maria II joins the cause when she comes to the aid of her vulnerable friend. The rest of the film concerns the revolution. After Maria I leads her men into an ambush, and Maria II saves them, the women create a peasant army, organizing the countryside into a quasi-Socialist state. There are numerous

sight gag In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretation ...

s and comic actions. Preparing to take the capital city, the Marias are captured by

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

churchmen who fear the disorder of a revolution and want to stop the people from treating the women like saints. After a bungled attempt to torture them (the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

's equipment is too old to work well) the Marias are rescued by their victorious army. Finally they move to France, where the circus is recreated as a successful musical version of the revolution. The women now wear dark wigs to look more "Latin American".

Cast

as Maria I *

as Marie Fitzgerald O'Malley (Maria II) * George Hamilton as Flores *

Paulette Dubost Paulette Dubost (8 October 1910 – 21 September 2011) was a French actress who began her career at the age of 7 at the Paris Opera. She appeared in over 250 films and worked with directors such as Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls ('' L ...

as Mme Diogène * Claudio Brook as The Great Rodolfo * Carlos López Moctezuma as Rodríguez (as Carlos Lopez Moctezuma) * Poldo Bendandi as Werther * Gregor von Rezzori as Diogène (as Gregor Von Rezzori) * Francisco Reiguera as Father Superior * Jonathan Eden as Juanito Diogène * Roberto Pedret as Pablo *

José Ángel Espinosa 'Ferrusquilla' José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''J ...

as The Dictator of San Miguel (as José Ángel Espinoza)

Production

Development

According to Jeff Stafford of

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

, "Malle's idea asto take a buddy movie and subvert it. For inspiration, he instructed Carrière to consider the

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

–

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...

relationship in '' Vera Cruz'' (1954), which was a favorite Western of the two collaborators. By replacing the traditional male protagonists with two strong females, ''Viva Maria!'' not only worked as an amusing gender twist on a popular formula, but was seen in some quarters as a political statement. Malle said German filmmaker

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker, dramatist and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema moveme ...

later told him that ''Viva Maria!'' fascinated him and his fellow students at

Berlin University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humboldt ...

. Malle recalled, 'It was a time of those radical student movements, and they saw in the heroines the two different approaches to revolution.'" Malle conceived of the film as "a sort of burlesque boxing match—sexpot v. seductress"; he got the film financed on the condition that Moreau commit to the project. The male lead was George Hamilton, whom Malle cast on the strength of his performance in ''

Two Weeks in Another Town ''Two Weeks in Another Town'' is a 1962 American drama film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Kirk Douglas and Edward G. Robinson. The supporting players include Cyd Charisse, Claire Trevor, Daliah Lavi, George Hamilton, and Rosann ...

''. Malle said "he was a personal choice and I am happy with him... He's more interested in being in the social columns – I don't understand – when he should be one of the greatest of his generation."

Shooting

Moreau and Bardot became "like two pals in the army" after 16 weeks of

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, including Texcoco. Filming started 18 January 1965. An extra was killed during filming when he fell off an ox cart. Filming was also held up when Bardot fell ill. The dialogue is in English, French, Spanish, and German, depending on the actor. The French version includes extensive English subtitles.

Reception

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, the film was banned for its sexual and anti-Catholic content; the ban was lifted by default in 1968, when the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

struck down the ban and limited the ability of municipalities to ban films for adults in ''Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas''. In 2010, ''Viva Maria!'' was exhibited at the

21st Ankara International Film Festival The 21st Ankara International Film Festival was a film festival held in Ankara, Turkey that ran from March 11 to 21, 2010. This edition of the Ankara Film Festival, organized by The World Mass Media Research Foundation and accredited by FIPRESCI ...

as part of a "Power and Rebellion" programme.

Critical

''Time'' called it a "jaunty but slipshod farce"; "Having saddled himself with an idea that often seems too silly for words, Director Malle rides to the rescue with more anti-state, anti-church, antedated spoofery than he can gracefully handle. His rhythm is erratic, as though he were trying to make a movie in five or six different styles at the same time, none wholly his own. But even the deadly slow stretches are redeemed by cameraman Henri Decaë, whose breathtakingly sophisticated photography is a show in itself, imperceptibly shaded as the action moves from lush

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

tropics to the cabaret scenes that exude a smoky golden haze in which Moreau and Bardot appear like creatures of Lautrec or

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...

, ineffably alluring." According to ''Variety'', the film has "B.B. in her best form since '' And God Created Woman'', and brilliantly matched by Jeanne Moreau. They are backed by a rollicking, comic adventure opus impeccably brought off by director Louis Malle."

Box office

The film was a box office hit in France with 3,450,559 attendees. It was the ninth most popular film of 1965 in France, after '' The Sucker'', '' Goldfinger'', '' Thunderball'', ''

Gendarme in New York ''Gendarme in New York'' () is a 1965 sequel to the French comedy film '' The Troops of St. Tropez''. It stars Louis de Funès as the gendarme along with Michel Galabru, Christian Marin, Guy Grosso and Michel Modo. Plot The gendarmes of St. T ...

'', ''

Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...

'', '' Fantomas Unleashed'', '' God's Thunder'' and '' The Wise Guys''. It grossed $875,000 in rentals in the U.S. and $5,150,000 in rentals worldwide.

Awards

Both Moreau and Bardot were nominated for Best Foreign Actress at the 20th British Academy Film Awards; Jeanne Moreau won the award.

Home video

MGM/UA released ''Viva Maria!'' on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in February 1994. The last minute of the movie, depicting the women singing a song in Spanish on stage, was cut after the film's New York premiere. MGM Technical Services archivist John Kirk was able to restore this final scene to the

laserdisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

release in 1998. The version shown on MGM's

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally ...

cable channel includes the scene.

Adaptations

The film was adapted into a newspaper comic in 1965, drawn by Julio Ribera.

References

External links

* * *
March 1965 cover story on Jeanne Moreau
prepared during the filming of ''Viva Maria!'' {{Jean-Claude Carrière 1965 films 1960s adventure comedy films 1965 Western (genre) films 1960s Western (genre) comedy films French adventure comedy films French Western (genre) comedy films Films directed by Louis Malle Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière Films scored by Georges Delerue Films shot in Mexico Films about revolutions Films set in 1907 Films set in South America Films set in Central America Films adapted into comics Girls with guns films United Artists films Circus films English-language French films 1960s female buddy films French female buddy films 1965 comedy films 1960s French films Christianity-related controversies in film