La Garçonne (The Bachelor Girl or The Flapper) is a 1936 French black-and-white film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Victor Margueritte. It was directed by Jean de Limur and starred Marie Bell (in the title role), Arletty and Edith Piaf.

Plot

The eponymous garçonne or flapper is Monique Lerbier, an emancipated French woman who leaves home to escape a marriage of convenience to a man she does not love which her parents have forced on her. She then falls into all sorts of carnal temptations and artificial pleasures previously unknown to her. These include her being seduced into a lesbian love affair by a chanteuse character (played by Edith Piaf), ensuring the film became a succès de scandale. Another actress in the film, Arletty, said of it: It was advanced, as an idea. Victor Margueritte, the author of the novel, took a major part in the production process. I played Marie Bell, in the film. One of the last times we saw each other, shortly before her death, we recalled this memory. "I played you in La Garçonne", I said to her, "and luckily this was not real life, otherwise you would have cost me dearly!" It has to be said of Marie that she was not cheap to keep! And how we laughed!...The film was a success thanks to the scandal it provoked. Seeing "bonnes femmes" (respectable women) as flappers, smoking opium...Seeing female homosexuals, in that era!"

Cast

Crew

Production details