Fanny (1961)
You can't name a child "Fanny" in New Zealand.
CORRECTION: In our post on The Mark, we stated that “Pinkie” was painted by Thomas Gainsborough. It was not; it was painted by Thomas Lawrence. We regret the error.1
Man, once I grow up, I’m totally gettin’ outta here. Marius (Horst Buchholz) is a bartender in a Marseille café owned by his father César (Charles Boyer), but tomorrow he plans on joining the crew of a ship and sailing away. Fanny (Leslie Caron) is in love with Marius and, since she’s the main character, she’s pretty sure Marius loves her too. She baits him into confessing his love by flirting with the desiccated Panisse (Maurice Chevalier) in front of him. It works and they spend the night together.
When Fanny’s mother Honorine (Georgette Anys) discovers what Marius and Fanny have done, she insists the pair be married. Marius is willing to go along with it, but Fanny realizes he’ll become embittered if he has to stay in Marseille instead of traveling the world. She decides to lie to him, saying she’d rather marry wealthy old Panisse instead. Ouch. Marius sails away, but oops, Fanny discovers she’s pregnant.
Fanny’s mother recommends Fanny marry Panisse without telling him about the pregnancy. Unfortunately, Fanny sucks at lying, and when she spills the beans to Panisse, he’s—wait, thrilled? Yeah—he gets a new wife and a baby! Panisse then tells frenemy César (remember, that’s Marius’ father) about the two-for-one deal, and though Fanny’s pregnant with Marius’ child, César gets on board when he’s named godfather.
A year and a half later, Marius returns and discovers he has a son. Panisse and César argue that Marius’ absence means the boy isn’t really his2, and though Fanny still loves Marius, she refuses to break up the family she’s made with Panisse. Marius goes into exile. Years later, ol’ Panisse starts dying, and he declares that, once he’s dead, Fanny should marry Marius.
I will rest easier knowing that [Fanny] has someone to care for her, especially if it’s the one she has always loved. I also feel that my son should have a father, even though it’s his own.
Rating: 5/10. I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky / And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
Cast and Crew
Charles Boyer, fourth-billed and with a forgettable performance, was rewarded with a Best Actor nomination. We won’t knock him for it; instead, let’s look at the three films he received sensible nominations for.
The first was Conquest (1937), where he played Napoleon. His co-star, Greta Garbo, played Polish Countess Marie Walewska; she becomes Napoleon’s mistress to convince him to restore the Polish state.
Boyer’s second nomination came for Algiers (1938), where he played the jewel thief Pépé le Moko3 who hides out in the Casbah in Algiers.4 “Casbah” is Arabic for “fortress” and “the Casbah” is colloquially the area surrounded by the fortress. But be warned: many cities have Casbahs. Algiers was Hedy Lamarr’s first American role.
#3 came from Boyer’s best-remembered film, whose name inspired Merriam-Webster’s 2022 word of the year: Gaslight (1944).5 Boyer’s character commits a murder, then marries the niece of his victim (played by Ingrid Bergman) to cover up his crime, search for hidden jewels, and make her go crazy.
Not bad, Charles Boyer. Not bad.6
Maurice Chevalier’s career began fifty years prior to Fanny, when he was a famous singer and dancer in Paris known for his straw hat and tuxedo. He came to the U.S. in the 1920s and became a bankable Hollywood star with the advent of talkies, which befitted his songs and his exaggerated French accent.7
His career hit a snag when he was accused of collaborating with the enemy during WWII, and the snags continued when his ties to Communism hurt his U.S. popularity. It was only post-McCarthy that he could break his 20-year layoff from Hollywood and make the Billy Wilder picture Love in the Afternoon (1957). With that, Best Picture winner Gigi8 (1958), and high-grossing Can-Can (1960), along with the other minor works and Disney deep cuts9, Chevalier’s second act in Hollywood was pretty successful.
And then there’s Leslie Caron, your French girl fashion inspo.
Caron started as a ballerina and was “discovered” by Gene Kelly when he saw her dancing with a French ballet company. He cast her in her first film role: Best Picture winner An American in Paris (1951). Good start! From there, she made Lili (1953, for which she was nominated for Best Actress10) and Gigi (1958, mentioned above). Yep, Leslie Caron: Lili, Gigi, Fanny.
Caron didn’t like being pigeonholed as a dancer, though, and began studying the Method; it paid off, netting her another Best Actress nomination for The L-Shaped Room (1962). That drama is about an unwed pregnant woman crashing at a cheap London boarding house; no singin’ or dancin’ in that one. Caron is still alive and has film credits as recently as 2020.
The Trivia
Well, this film is based on part of the Marseille trilogy11, so let’s discuss the city of Marseille (pronounced “maar-SAY”). Marseille is the oldest12 and second-largest city in France. It’s the capital of the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and sits on the Gulf of Lion, which itself is a branch of the Mediterranean.
Clicking through the Marseille Tourism Board website made Marseille (surprise) look pretty cool. Word on the street is you can’t miss the Calanques, coastal inlets lined by steep limestone cliffs. They hide Cosquer Cave, a cave with prehistoric rock engravings.13 Another noteworthy site is the island where Château d’If is located. That’s a prison made famous by “The Count of Monte Cristo”; consider it, like, the Alcatraz of Marseille. Anyway, the French are so cool with Marseille that their national anthem, “La Marseillaise” (mar-say-YEZ), is named for it.
And the food? Well, Marseille is a port town, so how about bouillabaisse, a fish-and-seafood stew. It’s like cioppino or zarzuela or cacciucco or, damn, now I’m hungry. You could also just get moules marinière, sailor’s mussels. With your seafood, have some pastis, a spirit that tastes of licorice and star anise.14 Pastis, like many other anise-based beverages, becomes cloudy when you add water to it. SCIENCE TIME: this is because of its terpenes, which are soluble in high-alcohol environments but precipitate when the alcohol is diluted. Watch that transformation here.
Odds and Ends
Some dated thoughts from César: “You know, Marius, a woman’s honor is like a match. You can use it once”…Fanny director Joshua Logan also did Sayonara…Audrey Hepburn turned down the title role…Marius sends letters from Port Said, a location you may recognize from the Trivia section of our post on The Entertainer…we’ll see “German James Dean” Horst Buchholz again in 1997.
And how about some name meanings? “Chevalier,” which means “knight” in French, is the lowest rank of the French nobility. “Panisses” are fries made out of chickpea flour. And “Fanny”? Short for “Frances” or “Stephanie,” apparently, but c’mon, I think you can find a better nickname than that.
Interestingly, the commenter who pointed this out has the handle “Yogesh.” If that’s quizzing legend Yogesh Raut (whose The Wronger Box is required reading), then this is like getting a high school history paper corrected by Doris Kearns Goodwin or having a child’s tumbling routine reviewed by Nadia Comăneci. Regardless, KW/OU is grateful for the help!
Even César says the child isn’t truly Marius’:
Before [the child] was born, you were his father. But since his birth, Panisse is his father. Why, when this child came into the world, he weighed eight pounds of his mother’s flesh. Now he weighs 23. You know what those extra 15 pounds are? Love. Love doesn't weigh very much. It’s like cigarette smoke. It takes a lot of love to make 15 pounds.
Voice actor Mel Blanc based his voice for Pepé Le Pew on Charles Boyer’s performance as Pépé le Moko.
There’s a line that people think was in Algiers but actually isn’t: “come with me to the Casbah.” But don’t worry: soon enough, no one will remember Algiers, so no one will misremember that line.
From the plot of Gaslight, I always figured it was directed by Hitchcock, but nope, George Cukor. Unrelated: “Gaslighter” by the Chicks is a bop.
Bonus Charlie B content for the real Boyerheads: he was in Love Affair (1939) with Irene Dunne, which was remade as An Affair to Remember (1957), which then inspired Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Boyer was also in Liliom (1934), a film based on a play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. “Liliom” provided the inspiration for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” (that’s the one with “You’ll Never Walk Alone”).
Some of those films were with Jeanette MacDonald, who later made eight musical films with singer Nelson Eddy.
You should know two of his songs from this film: “I Remember it Well” and “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”
He had top billing in live-action films In Search of the Castaways (1962) and Monkeys, Go Home! (1967). He also made the theme song for The Aristocats (1970).
Lili: Naïve girl learns about world through puppets? Not really feeling this one. Daddy Long Legs (1955) with Fred Astaire looks a bit better.
Marcel Pagnol’s “Marseille” trilogy had two plays, “Marius” (1929) and “Fanny” (1931), as well as a film, César (1936). Fanny is actually based on the book of a Broadway musical, “Fanny,” from 1954, though the film doesn’t include any of the musical’s songs. Bad choice IMO.
Founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers, who called it “Massalia.”
Though yeah, if you hear “French cave with prehistoric rock engravings,” you should just Pavlov “Lascaux” and not think too much about it.
Pastis was invented following the prohibition of another anise-flavored drink, absinthe. A noteworthy brand is Ricard, named for its creator Paul Ricard; it’s known as “the milk of Marseille.”
Sorry to be "that guy" again (and thanks for the kind words!), but "Algiers" was only Lamarr's first *American* role. She had previously appeared in multiple European movies, most notably the notorious "Ecstasy" (1933).