One Woman or Two

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One Woman or Two
Theatrical release poster
FrenchUne femme ou deux
Directed byDaniel Vigne
Screenplay by
Story byDaniel Vigne
Produced byRené Cleitman
Starring
CinematographyCarlo Varini
Edited byMarie-Josèphe Yoyotte
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byActeurs Auteurs Associés
Release date
  • 6 November 1985 (1985-11-06)
Running time
97 minutes[2]
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench[3]
Budget30 million French francs
($3 million)[1]

One Woman or Two (French: Une femme ou deux) is a 1985 French screwball romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Vigne [fr], who co-wrote the screenplay with Élisabeth Rappeneau. It stars Gérard Depardieu, Sigourney Weaver, Ruth Westheimer and Michel Aumont.[4]

The film is a rework of the 1938 American screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.[5][6]

Plot

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Shy paleontologist/archaeologist (Gérard Depardieu) makes an archeological find of the fossil remains of the first, two-million-year-old, French woman, whom he calls Laura.[7][8][9][10] He is approached and conned by a crass and greedy American model and Madison Avenue advertising executive (Sigourney Weaver), masquerading as a charity organisation executive in order to use the woman for her own perfume advertising campaign.[10][7]

Later the real charity organisation executive, ditzy rich American patroness of the sciences (Ruth Westheimer, in her feature film debut) turns up ... it all develops from there.[11][12][13][2]

Cast

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Most of the dialogue in the film is in French, including that of Weaver (an American) and Westheimer (originally from Germany).[14] This would not have been difficult for Westheimer, who had lived in Switzerland and France and had studied and taught at the Sorbonne in the 1950s.

Production

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The film was shot in France (much of it in Paris) and New York City.[1][15] French paleontologist Yves Coppens advised on the film.[16]

Reception

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Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Roger Ebert wrote of this film in a half star review, "Add it all up, and what you've got here is a waste of good electricity. I'm not talking about the electricity between the actors. I'm talking about the current to the projector."[17] In 2005 he included it on his most-hated films list.[18]

Richard Harrington, writing for The Washington Post said: "it's funny enough, and genial in the way French comedy tends to be."[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Hachette Premiere On Rebound; Has 'Femme', 'Billy' In Hopper". Variety. 1 May 1985. p. 340.
  2. ^ a b "Movies". New York. 23 February 1987 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Brief Movie Reviews". New York. 9 February 1987 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Films and Filming, Issues 411-423, 1989.
  5. ^ Scheuer, Steven H. (1990). Movies on TV and Videocassette, 1991-1992
  6. ^ Connors, Martin; Craddock, Jim (1999). VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 1999
  7. ^ a b c Harrington, Richard (March 2, 1987). "‘One Woman or Two’ (PG-13)", The Washington Post.
  8. ^ R. R. Bowker (1992). Bowker's Complete Video Directory, Volumes 1–4.
  9. ^ Scheuer, Steven H. (1989). Movies on TV and Video Cassette; 1989-1990
  10. ^ a b Maltin, Leonard (2013). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide
  11. ^ "Funny Business". New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. 15 September 1986 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ The Family Guide to Movies and Videos, Office for Film and Broadcasting, Department of Communications, United States Catholic Conference, 1995.
  13. ^ The Blockbuster Entertainment Guide to Movies and Videos, 1999 Edition.
  14. ^ Cox, Yvonne (23 February 1987). "People". Maclean's.[dead link]
  15. ^ "My scene with Gerard Depardieu". stevelandis.com.
  16. ^ Day, David Howard (1997). A Treasure Hard to Attain; Images of Archaeology in Popular Film, with a Filmography
  17. ^ Ebert, Roger (2 March 1987). "One Woman or Two". Chicago Sun-Times. rogerebert.com. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  18. ^ Ebert, Roger (11 August 2005). "Ebert's Most Hated". Chicago Sun Times. Archived from the original on 28 June 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
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