Shop Girls of Paris or The Ladies' Delight (French: Au Bonheur des Dames) is a 1943 French historical drama film directed by André Cayatte and starring Michel Simon, Albert Préjean and Blanchette Brunoy.[1] It is an adaptation of the 1883 novel Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola.

Shop Girls of Paris
Directed byAndré Cayatte
Screenplay byAndré Cayatte
André Legrand
Michel Duran
Based onAu Bonheur des Dames
by Émile Zola
Produced byAlfred Greven
StarringMichel Simon
Albert Préjean
Blanchette Brunoy
CinematographyArmand Thirard
Edited byGérard Bensdorp
Music byLouis Sédrat
Production
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Release date
  • 1943 (1943)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryFrance

The film was made by the German-backed company Continental Films. It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris with location filming taking place at the Bon Marché department store. The film's sets were created by the art director Andrej Andrejew. The costumes were designed by Rosine Delamare

It was the second film adaptation of Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames in a French production, after Au Bonheur des Dames by Julien Duvivier in 1930 (Lupu Pick had directed a German adaptation in 1922).

Plot

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M. Baudu, an irascible old man, runs a small fabric shop in 1860s Paris. A large department store, the first of its kind, opens nearby, putting Baudu's business in peril. Things get even more complicated for him when his niece and two nephews, all recently orphaned, leave their small village to go live with him. Denise, his young niece, is hired as a saleswoman at the department store, to Baudu's displeasure. She does well at her job, and begins receiving both professional and romantic interest from the store's owner, the wealthy and charming Octave Mouret.

Cast

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Crew

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References

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  1. ^ Lanzoni p.110

Bibliography

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  • Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier . French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present. A&C Black, 2004.
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