Adieu Chérie
 

Posted on 15.10.2023

"There's always a bit of bitterness in not having made your own life," a shrivelled old bourgeois tells the protagonist as she ponders her fate.

Behind this light-hearted title, and the promise of a ravishing, singing Danielle Darrieux, lies a strangely serious, witty and ultimately very grown-up plot. Chérie is a young escort who enters into a transactional pact with a young heir. Love soon gets in the way of this mechanical alliance. Scripted by, among others, the admirable Jacques Campaneez, this dramatic comedy shows a remarkable and original sincerity of feeling, as if it were the opposite of what we usually see in cinema.

Adieu Chérie, 1946 © CCL

Chérie, a girl who has experienced too much, says she wants to become the girl that she never was. After all, it's not so bad to believe in love. And Darrieux is never better than when she performs with her eyes half-closed, not so much in seduction, but to show that, despite her youth, she seems to have already understood everything about human nature. Surprised by the discovery of her own innocence, Chérie comes face to face with the pride and hypocrisy of the rich bourgeoisie, who are frightened to the point of abhorrence. Adieu Chérie is the story of a metamorphosis, a sensational portrait of a woman with a highly unexpected ending.

Virginie Apiou

SCREENINGS

Adieu chérie by Raymond Bernard (1946, 1h50, VFSTA)
Institut Lumière (Villa) - Sun. 15 at 6.45pm
Pathé Bellecour - Thu. 19 at 2.45pm
Institut Lumière (Hangar) - Fri. 20 at 11.15am
UGC Confluence - Sat. 21 at 3.45pm