Et Satan conduit le bal

That's what the title means;but don't let it fool you.There's nothing satanic here ,simply we are treated ,so to speak ,to the delights of the sub-Nouvelle Vague.

One of the great historians of the FRench Cinema,Jacques Lourcelles,wrote that the old cinema of the fifties needed a cure;but he quickly added that the cure was worse than the disease.

It's really the N.W. in all its horror:a vague detective novel plot (when I read the name of Roger Vadim as the screenwriter in the credits ,I knew it was all up!) and interminable conversations between young people (youth cult was a permanent feature of the N.W.)who 've got nothing to do but contemplate their navel and talk about their inflated egos in desirable mansions on the Côte D'Azur.Jacques Perrin and Catherine Deneuve teamed up for the first time .I'm almost sure it's not a film they are proud of (were it only for the ridiculous ending):they were to make two more movies together :" Les Demoiselles De Rochefort" and mainly the wonderful "Peau D'Ane" ,both by Jacques Demy,one of the worthwhile N.W. directors.

Like this? try this......

"Vacances Portugaises" by Pierre Kast (1962)

"L'Eau A La Bouche" Jacques Doniol-Volcroze (1959 ).Volcroze appears in "Satan Conduit Le Bal" as Eric.

Roger Vadim partly for the script and perhaps it would have been partially better if he had directed it. The cast is rich in promise; a young Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Perrin, who died in 2022. The film starts with Perrin crashing a car that has no insurance. He has to find the money and turns to a gang of pseudo Nouvelle Vague people to get the money out of them. Set in a villa by the sea everyone plays around and Deneuve who is in love with Perrin refuses to get the money from her very dominant father. Father catches up with Perrin and Satan as the title goes leads the dismal dance. The women in the cast are used by the men, and one calls women ' dolls adorned with rubber ' referring to the feeling he has that they small of rubber. To sum up this is a trashy film with pretentions to be better than it is. Bernadette Lafont and Francoise Brion ( both excellent in their roles ) save what they can by glances and a sense of maturity. In my opinion a film to avoid.