La Fête à Henriette (1952)
Directed by Julien Duvivier / Henri Jeanson
Genres - Comedy |
Sub-Genres - Showbiz Comedy |
Run Time - 118 min. |
Countries - France |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Holiday for Henrietta (originally released in 1952 as La Fete a Henriette) is a Pirandellian comedy about the art of moviemaking. Louis Seigner and Henri Cremieux play a team of screenwriters whose latest project is stuck in a mire of indecision. Should fictional heroine Henriette (Dany Robin) be permitted a happy ending as the romantic Seigner insists, or suffer an unhappy one as "film noir" specialist Cremieux demands? While the screenwriters hash out their contrasting points of view, we see a film-within-a-film, dramatizing the formulating screenplay and its abrupt changes of mood and direction. Finally reaching a compromise, the writers are interrupted by one of the actors in their imaginary movie, who informs them that their "original" plot has already been filmed! When Hollywood got hold of Holiday for Henrietta, it pumped up this modest project into a bloated star vehicle for Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, titled Paris When It Sizzles (63).
Characteristics
Themes
Keywords
screenwriter, partner, show-business, writing, struggle, behind-the-scenes, business, filmmaker, love, naivete
Attributes
High Artistic Quality, High Historical Importance