Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me

Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me

theatrical release poster
Directed by François Truffaut
Produced by Marcel Berbert
Written by Jean-Loup Dabadie
François Truffaut
Based on Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me by Henry Farrell
Starring Bernadette Lafont
Music by Georges Delerue
Cinematography Pierre-William Glenn
Edited by Yann Dedet
Production
company
Les Films du Carrosse
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
12 September 1972 (France)
26 June 1973 (UK)
March 1973 (US)
Running time
100 minutes
Country France
Language French
Box office 684,919 admissions (France)[1]

Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (French: Une belle fille comme moi) also known as A Gorgeous Bird Like Me, is a 1972 French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Bernadette Lafont. It is based on Henry Farrell's 1967 novel of the same name.

Plot

Stanislas Previne is a young sociologist, preparing a thesis on criminal women. He meets Camille Bliss in prison to interview her. Camille is accused of having murdered her lover Arthur and her father. She tells Stanislas about her life and her love affairs.

Stanislas, much to the frustration of his secretary, who also has a crush on him, soon falls in love with Camille and works to find the evidence to prove her innocent. His secretary tries to convince the sociologist that Camille is a manipulative slut but he cannot be convinced. Through investigation the sociologist and his secretary find a young boy, an amateur filmmaker, who has captured the evidence they need on film to secure Camille's release from prison.

Once free, Camille, who has always loved music and has seduced the cabaret singer Sam Golden earlier in the film, becomes a cause célèbre and a singing star. Stanislas meets her after a performance and she seduces him at her home; But her husband (who is cuckolded many times during the film) discovers them and beats him up. Camille kills her husband and then plants the gun on her passed out paramour.

When Stanislas is imprisoned for murder, Camille will do nothing to help the man who once freed her. As he cleans up the prison in the films final segment, the camera pans to show Stanislas' secretary typing a manuscript in a nearby balcony, presumable the thesis that Stanislas began, but this time preparing one that will expose Camille as the manipulative seductress that Stanislas has discovered her to truly be.

Cast

  • Jérôme Zucca as the child amateur filmmaker
  • Gaston Ouvrard as old prison warder
  • Martine Ferrière as prison secretary
  • Jacob Weizbluth as Alphonse, the mute
  • Marcel Berbert as the bookseller (uncredited)
  • Jean-Loup Dabadie as a photograph (uncredited)
  • Annick Fougery as teacher (uncredited)
  • Jean-François Stévenin as the newspapers seller (uncredited)
  • François Truffaut as a journalist (voice) (uncredited)[2]

References

Notes

  1. Box Office information for Francois Truffaut films at Box Office Story
  2. Allen, Don. Finally Truffaut. New York: Beaufort Books. 1985. ISBN 0-8253-0335-4. OCLC 12613514. pp. 233.

External links