French Dressing (film)
Encyclopedia
French Dressing is a 1964 British
comedy film
directed by Ken Russell
and starring James Booth
, Roy Kinnear
and Marisa Mell
. A deckchair
attendant in the run-down seaside resort of Gormleigh-on-Sea is promoted to publicity officer. In an effort to drum up interest in the town he organises a film festival
and invites a major French film star. The event is soon thrown into chaos by the machinations of jealous mayors from rival towns.
working in the flagging seaside resort town of Gormleigh in a job secured for him by his friend, the entertainments manager, Henry Liggott. Jim enjoys his easy life in the town with his girlfriend, Judy, a young reporter on the local paper. Things are soon turned upside down when Judy writes an article at Jim's suggestion calling for a film festival featuring Brigitte Bardot to revitalise the town and bring in tourists.
The three of them are summoned to see the Mayor to explain Jim's conduct the following morning. When Jim admits he can't get Bardot the Mayor threatens him with dismissal. This leads Jim to suggest that instead of getting Bardot, they try and secure the French film star, Françoise Fayol, whose latest New Wave
film Pavements of Boulogne is premiering in Boulogne
. With the Mayor's approval, Stephens and Liggott travel across the Channel
to persuade her to attend the planned film festival
.
Once in France they spend a great deal of time trying to locate her before eventually running into her by accident. They find that Fayol is frustrated by being typecast
as a sex symbol
rather than being given more intellectual roles and wishes to break free from her domineering mentor. The two Englishman are able to win her friendship by helping to destroy a large consignment of inflatable replica models of her which she hates. She accompanies them back to Britain, where the people of Gormleigh organise a pageant
to welcome her which quickly descends into farce.
Fayol's introduction to life in Gormleigh is not a happy one, and includes being soaked first in the sea, then by rain and then in a puddle. She refuses to leave her hotel room and has to be coaxed out by Jim, for whom she has developed a liking. Jim and Fayol's publicity campaign sets about shaking up the staid town and its old-fashioned inhabitants. As Jim grows closer to Françoise Fayol, Judy becomes increasingly upset.
When the film festival opens, it turns out to be a roaring success as tourists and the media flock in attracted almost entirely by Fayol's presence and the glamour that comes in her wake. The finale of the festival features the screening of Fayol's new film Pavements of Boulogne, followed the next morning by the opening of a new nudist beach. Fayol is extremely nervous about her new film, as she hates seeing herself on screen, and is eager to win the main prize at the festival - the golden cockle
. Things at first seem to be going well at the screening until the show is suddenly disrupted by a violent brawl organised by the jealous mayors of rival towns.
The next morning Fayol, distraught by the fight and the savage reviews of her film by newspapers, including Judy's, decides to go back to the Continent where her domineering mentor has found her a brilliant new film to star in. Despite a desperate rush to the railway station by Liggott in order to prevent her, she catches the train leaving the heroes urgently needing to find someone to take her place at the beach's opening.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
and starring James Booth
James Booth
James Booth was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. Though handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety of character parts, Booth naturally projected a shifty, wolfish, or unpredictable quality that led inevitably to villainous roles...
, Roy Kinnear
Roy Kinnear
Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
and Marisa Mell
Marisa Mell
Marisa Mell was an Austrian actress who became a cult figure of 1960s Italian B-movies. She was born as Marlies Theres Moitzi in Graz, Austria.-Biography:...
. A deckchair
Deckchair
A deckchair is a folding chair, usually with a frame of treated wood or artificial material and a fabric or vinyl backrest and seat. It may have an extended seat, meant to be used as a leg rest, whose height may be adjustable...
attendant in the run-down seaside resort of Gormleigh-on-Sea is promoted to publicity officer. In an effort to drum up interest in the town he organises a film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
and invites a major French film star. The event is soon thrown into chaos by the machinations of jealous mayors from rival towns.
Plot
Jim Stephens is a deckchair attendantDeckchair
A deckchair is a folding chair, usually with a frame of treated wood or artificial material and a fabric or vinyl backrest and seat. It may have an extended seat, meant to be used as a leg rest, whose height may be adjustable...
working in the flagging seaside resort town of Gormleigh in a job secured for him by his friend, the entertainments manager, Henry Liggott. Jim enjoys his easy life in the town with his girlfriend, Judy, a young reporter on the local paper. Things are soon turned upside down when Judy writes an article at Jim's suggestion calling for a film festival featuring Brigitte Bardot to revitalise the town and bring in tourists.
The three of them are summoned to see the Mayor to explain Jim's conduct the following morning. When Jim admits he can't get Bardot the Mayor threatens him with dismissal. This leads Jim to suggest that instead of getting Bardot, they try and secure the French film star, Françoise Fayol, whose latest New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
film Pavements of Boulogne is premiering in Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
. With the Mayor's approval, Stephens and Liggott travel across the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
to persuade her to attend the planned film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
.
Once in France they spend a great deal of time trying to locate her before eventually running into her by accident. They find that Fayol is frustrated by being typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
as a sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
rather than being given more intellectual roles and wishes to break free from her domineering mentor. The two Englishman are able to win her friendship by helping to destroy a large consignment of inflatable replica models of her which she hates. She accompanies them back to Britain, where the people of Gormleigh organise a pageant
Pageant
A medieval pageant is a form of procession traditionally associated with both secular and religious rituals, often with a narrative structure. Pageantry was an important aspect of medieval European seasonal festivals, in particular around the celebration of Corpus Christi, which began after the...
to welcome her which quickly descends into farce.
Fayol's introduction to life in Gormleigh is not a happy one, and includes being soaked first in the sea, then by rain and then in a puddle. She refuses to leave her hotel room and has to be coaxed out by Jim, for whom she has developed a liking. Jim and Fayol's publicity campaign sets about shaking up the staid town and its old-fashioned inhabitants. As Jim grows closer to Françoise Fayol, Judy becomes increasingly upset.
When the film festival opens, it turns out to be a roaring success as tourists and the media flock in attracted almost entirely by Fayol's presence and the glamour that comes in her wake. The finale of the festival features the screening of Fayol's new film Pavements of Boulogne, followed the next morning by the opening of a new nudist beach. Fayol is extremely nervous about her new film, as she hates seeing herself on screen, and is eager to win the main prize at the festival - the golden cockle
Cockle
Cockle may refer to:* Cockle , a group of edible saltwater clams * Lolium temulentum, a tufted grass plant* Berwick cockles, a confectionery from ScotlandCockleshell* The Mark II canoes used in Operation Frankton in 1942...
. Things at first seem to be going well at the screening until the show is suddenly disrupted by a violent brawl organised by the jealous mayors of rival towns.
The next morning Fayol, distraught by the fight and the savage reviews of her film by newspapers, including Judy's, decides to go back to the Continent where her domineering mentor has found her a brilliant new film to star in. Despite a desperate rush to the railway station by Liggott in order to prevent her, she catches the train leaving the heroes urgently needing to find someone to take her place at the beach's opening.
Cast
- James BoothJames BoothJames Booth was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. Though handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety of character parts, Booth naturally projected a shifty, wolfish, or unpredictable quality that led inevitably to villainous roles...
- Jim Stephens - Roy KinnearRoy KinnearRoy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
- Henry Liggott - Marisa MellMarisa MellMarisa Mell was an Austrian actress who became a cult figure of 1960s Italian B-movies. She was born as Marlies Theres Moitzi in Graz, Austria.-Biography:...
- Françoise Fayol - Alita Naughton - Judy
- Bryan PringleBryan PringleBryan Pringle was a British actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire but raised in the Lancashire town of Bolton he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had...
- The Mayor - Sandor ElèsSandor ElèsSandor Elès was a Hungarian-born actor....
- Vladek - Norman Pitt - Mayor of Westbourne
- Henry McCarthy - Mayor of Bridgemouth
- Lucille SoongLucille SoongLucille Soong is a Chinese American film and television actress. She has guest starred on several present-day television series which include a recurring role on the ABC primetime soap Desperate Housewives as Gabrielle Solis' former maid, Yao Lin...
- French starlet - Germaine Delbat - French woman
- Robert Robinson - Himself