Le Miroir a deux faces

Interesting to re-view this in the light of the Streisand 'remake', though any resemblance are so superficial as to appear coincidental. Bourvil, in one of his occasional dramatic roles, plays a mean, penny pinching, spoiled child of a man who deliberately seeks out a plain woman to marry, on the grounds she'll be less bother. Ten years later, a chance encounter with a cosmetic surgeon transforms the wife into Michèle Morgan, newly confident and socially in demand, whereupon Bourvil, deprived of his conveniently arranged world, goes spectacularly berserk. Cayatte shows his customary relish for the unpleasant: the nightmare honeymoon in Venice is richly detailed and Sylvie sketches in the quietly venomous mother-in-law with her usual economy. If Streisand's film was quintessential '90s Hollywood feel good, this is equally characteristic '50s French astringency.