Arletty

Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat (15 May 1898 – 23 July 1992[1]), known professionally as Arletty, was a French actress, singer, and fashion model. She was found guilty of treason for an affair with a German officer during World War II, but she continued her career which included playing Blanche in the French version of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Arletty
Born
Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat

(1898-05-15)15 May 1898
Courbevoie, France
Died23 July 1992(1992-07-23) (aged 94)
Paris, France
OccupationActress, singer, fashion model
Years active1930–1963

Early years

Arletty was born in Courbevoie (near Paris), to a working-class family. After her father's death, she left home and pursued a modeling career. She took the stage name "Arlette" based on the heroine of a story by Guy de Maupassant. She was not interested in acting until she met Paul Guillaume, an art dealer. He recommended some theaters and, at the age of 21, she was hired.[2]

Her early career was dominated by the music hall, and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. Arletty was a stage performer for ten years before her film debut in 1930. Arletty's career took off around 1936 when she appeared as the leading lady in the stage plays Les Joies du Capitole and Fric-Frac, in which she starred opposite Michel Simon. She later starred as Blanche in the French version of A Streetcar Named Desire.[3]

Marcel Carné was known for his poetic realism filmmaking style. Arletty's minor role of Raymonde in his film, Hotel du Nord, garnered attention for her "Atmosphere! Atmosphere!” performance. In 1945 Arletty appeared in her most famous film role, the central part of Garance in Les Enfants du Paradis, her fourth role for the director. For this role she earned one of the highest salaries ever in French cinema.[4]

Collaboration

Arletty was imprisoned in 1945 for her wartime liaison with a German Luftwaffe officer, Hans-Jürgen Soehring (1908-1960),[5] during the occupation of France. She allegedly later commented on the experience, "My heart is French but my ass is international."[6] The quotation in French is, "Si mon cœur est français, mon cul, lui, est international" and the word "cul" is also translated "sex." The French version of Wikipedia says the phrase was suggested by Henri Jeanson, but is perhaps apocryphal. Although other French women fell in love with German soldiers, her romantic affiliation with Soehring during the German occupation prompted a charge of treason.

James Lord wrote of her special treatment:

Arletty was too well known for the mere humiliation of having her head shaved, her naked skull tarred with a swastika and in this abject state paraded through the streets to confront the jeers and spittle of the mob. Prison would be none too good for her, people said, looking forward to severe retribution for the moral treason of which they found her guilty.[2]

For her crimes she received a sentence of eighteen months imprisonment, most of which was served in a private chateau.

Later years

After a moderately successful period as a stage actress in later life she was forced to retire into private life due to progressive loss of her eyesight. One of her final screen appearances was in a small role as an elderly French woman in The Longest Day (1962).

After her death in 1992, Arletty was cremated, and her ashes interred in her hometown at the Nouveau Cimetière de Courbevoie.[7]

Legacy

In 1995 the government of France issued a series of limited edition coins to commemorate the centenary of film that included a 100 Franc coin bearing the image of Arletty.[8]

Filmography
  • 1930: The Sweetness of Loving - Une dactylo (uncredited)
  • 1932: Un chien qui rapporte - Josyane Plaisir
  • 1932: La Belle Aventure - Madame Desmignières
  • 1932: Abduct Me - Lulu
  • 1933: Mademoiselle Josette, My Woman
  • 1933: Je te confie ma femme - Totoche
  • 1933: Une idée folle - Anita - une danseuse
  • 1933: Un soir de réveillon - Viviane
  • 1933: La Guerre des valses - La chocolatière
  • 1934: Le voyage de Monsieur Perrichon - Anita Mathieu
  • 1935: Pension Mimosas - La môme Parasol
  • 1935: Le Vertige - Emma
  • 1935: La fille de Madame Angot - Ducoudray
  • 1935: Amants et Voleurs - Agathe
  • 1936: La Garçonne - Niquette
  • 1936: Aventure à Paris - Rose Blondel de Saint-Leu
  • 1936: Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir - La belle-soeur de la hourmerie
  • 1936: Le Mari rêvé - Eve Roland
  • 1936: Let's Make a Dream- Une invitée (prologue)
  • 1936: Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue
  • 1936: Feu la mère de madame
  • 1937: Les Perles de la couronne - La reine d'Abyssinie
  • 1937: Désiré - Madeleine Crapicheau, la femme de chambre
  • 1937: Aloha, le chant des îles - Ginette Gina
  • 1938: Mirages - Arlette
  • 1938: The Little Thing - Irma Borel
  • 1938: La Chaleur du sein - Bernadette Mezin
  • 1938: Hôtel du Nord - Raymonde
  • 1939: Le jour se lève - Clara
  • 1939: Fric-Frac - Loulou
  • 1939: Circonstances atténuantes - Marie Qu'a-d'ça
  • 1940: Thunder Over Paris - Ida
  • 1941: Madame Sans-Gêne - Catherine Hubscher
  • 1942: La Femme que j'ai le plus aimée - Simone, l'actrice locataire
  • 1942: Bolero - Catherine
  • 1942: L'Amant de Bornéo - Stella Losange
  • 1942: Les Visiteurs du soir - Dominique
  • 1942: La Loi du 21 juin 1907
  • 1945: Les Enfants du paradis - Claire Reine, dite Garance
  • 1947: La Fleur de l'âge
  • 1948: Madame et ses peaux-rouges (Buffalo Bill et la bergère) - Mademoiselle Pascale
  • 1949: Portrait d'un assassin - Martha
  • 1950: Georges Braque
  • 1951: Gibier de potence - Madame Alice
  • 1952: L'Amour, Madame - Herself
  • 1953: The Father of the Girl - Edith Mars
  • 1954: Le Grand Jeu - Blanche
  • 1954: The Air of Paris - Blanche Le Garrec
  • 1954: Huis clos - Inès - une lesbienne
  • 1956: Mon curé chez les pauvres - Nine
  • 1957: Vacances explosives - Arlette Bernard
  • 1958: Le Passager clandestin - Gabrielle
  • 1958: Et ta sœur - Lucrèce du Boccage
  • 1958: Un drôle de dimanche - Juliette Armier
  • 1958: Maxime - Gazelle
  • 1960: Paris la belle - Récitante / Narrator (voice)
  • 1960: Les Primitifs du XIIIe - Récitante / Narrator (voice)
  • 1962: The Dance - La mère d'Albert
  • 1962: Girl on the Road - Gabrielle, maîtresse de Rameau
  • 1962: La Loi des hommes - Loune de Lindt
  • 1962: The Longest Day - Madame Barrault
  • 1962: Tempo di Roma - La marquise
  • 1962: Le Voyage à Biarritz - Fernande
  • 1967: Dina chez les rois - Récitante / Narrator (voice)
  • 1977: Jacques Prévert - Herself
  • 1985: Carné, l'homme à la caméra - Herself (voice)

References
  1. "Arletty". IMDb. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  2. Lord, James (1994). Six Exceptional Women. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. pp. 43–82.
  3. Felando, Cynthia. "Arletty." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. 4th ed. Vol. 3: Actors and Actresses. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 35-36. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 October 2014.
  4. Aldstadt, David. (2002). Imaginary Co-Signatures: Collaboration, Authorship, and Star Personae in Films by Marcel Carne with Arletty and by Jean Cocteau with Jean Marais. Retrieved from ProQuest. Order Number 3048992
  5. Mark Le Fanu Book Review: "And the Show Went On" Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Spear's, 4 July 2011
  6. Geoffrey Nowell Smith, The Oxford History of World Cinema, p. 347. See also Arletty, allocine.fr: "mon coeur est français mais mon cul est international !"
  7. Tronchoni, José L Bernabé (4 November 2003). "Arletty-Leonie Bathiat". Find a Grave. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  8. "MDP les francs". Monnaie de collection. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.

Further reading
  • Arletty (1971). La Défense. Paris: de la Table ronde.
  • Arletty; Michel Souvais (1987). Je suis comme je suis. Paris: Vertiges du Nord / Carrère. ISBN 2-86804-404-2.
  • Souvais, Michel (September 2006). Arletty, confidences à son secrétaire. Paris: Publibook.
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