Good Time Girls

Chabrol’s fourth film, dedicated to the daily lives and dating experiences of four female shop assistants in post-war Paris, challenged the expectations of its contemporaries. Far for the light, saucy comedy that had been (wrongly) advertised by its producers, Good Time Girls (Les Bonnes Femmes), with its unique combination of Neorealist aesthetic and thriller element, turned out to be a scathing satire of the society of its time and, more precisely, of men behaving badly.

Although nothing much happens for most of the film, the women’s sense of ennui is constantly at odds with the underlying menace that pervades the narrative and prepares the viewer for the shocking act of the end. While Chabrol’s voyeuristic camera angles and expressionistic mise-en-scène relentlessly undermine the romantic aspirations of the four friends, they also document the women’s sense of alienation and the cruelty of the class and gender that confine them.

Despite its inauspicious beginnings (censored and rated 18 at its release, booed at the première, both a box office and a critical flop), Les Bonnes Femmes, starring Bernadette Lafont, Stéphane Audran, Clothilde Joano and Lucile Saint-Simon, is rightly hailed as one of Chabrol’s best films and has inspired many over the years, from Stanley Kubrick to Mad Men’s creator Matthew Weiner.