Premier mai (1958)

Director:

Luis Saslavsky

Writers:

Claude Heymann (dialogue)
Luis Saslavsky (dialogue)

Release Date:

25 March 1958 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Number In Title

Cast

Yves Montand	...	Jean Meunier
Yves Noël	...	François Meunier
Nicole Berger	...	Annie Chapois
Georges Chamarat	...	Henri Bousquet
Bernadette Lange	...	Thérèse Meunier
Georgette Anys	...	Mme Tartet
Gabrielle Fontan	...	Mme Lurde
Maurice Biraud	...	Blanchot
Paul Demange	...	Le secrétaire du commissaire
Laurent Terzieff	...	Maurice
Gaby Basset	...	Une infirmière
Jacques Berger
Simone Berthier	...	La bru de Bousquet
Louis Bugette	...	Le patron du bistrot (as Bugette)
Coutan-Lambert	...	Mme Chapuis (as Coutant-Lambert)

Also Known As:

Festa di maggio (Italy)
Le père et l'enfant
Man to Man Talk
Premier May
The First Day of May

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Gemma Cinematografica

The hungry caterpillar.

Luis Saslavsky ,a minor but talented director of the fifties is like the hungry caterpillar from the celebrated book for kiddies.He ate something of many other films or directors,and yet the results are pretty good:"premier mai" retains a freshness which can still grab today's audience.

He stopped and had a snack at the Clair /Carné restaurant: the local dance seems to come from "14 Juillet" (1933) or "Hotel du nord" (1938);besides ,there 's the scene from the communion meal,which we found in "Hotel du nord" too.

He had a delicious meal at the Becker inn :one recognizes the populism of such works as " Antoine and Antoinette" or "Edouard et Caroline"(1947 and 1951)

He had an ice cream at the Italian neorealism restaurant where cordon bleu Vittorio de Sica was a sans pareil cook.Yves Montand and his son recall sometimes a lite "Ladri di biciclette" (1948) while the old man at the police station could be a distant relative of "Umberto D" (1952).

He had a coffee at the Wyler's cafe:the police station where you find shady fellows-whom the " notables" help-,whores,old men mistreated by their shameless families ,nuns,you name it,recalls that of "Detective story" (1952)

The screenplay is very thin ,it's not much of a plot ,but Saslavsky made the best of it:there are a lot of characters and many subplots (actually there's no "central"plot ): two young lovers ,a father(Montand) waiting for his wife's delivery,a dive where Montand's friend(Maurice Biraud)fleeces the idiots ,a grumpy open-handed delivery man..Everything happens on the first of May and there's lily of the valley everywhere .

The first of May,Labour day ,might have a political meaning ,given Yves Montand's opinions ;at the time he and Simone Signoret were the exalters of communism (he sang in Moscow,invited by the Russian government in the late fifties).There are veiled hints in this 1958 movie,but "premier mai" is definitely not a political movie.

The caterpillar became a many-coloured butterfly ,made of everything it had eaten.