Women Are Like That

Women Are Like That (Comment qu'elle est ?)

Movie · 1960 · 15 people

Bernard Borderie directed Women Are Like That (French title Comment qu'elle est ?), a 1960 French spy film sitting between comedy and thriller. Eddie Constantine plays the tough FBI agent Lemmy Caution, and this adventure was the fifth time he took the part. In Germany it was released as Eddie geht aufs Ganze and in Spain as El FBI y las damas.

The story comes from the 1945 novel I'll Say She Does by the British writer Peter Cheyney, who had a wide readership in France; films inspired by his books made up a series around Constantine. Alongside Constantine, the leading cast includes Françoise Brion, André Luguet and Alfred Adam, with Albert Michel, Billy Kearns, Charles Bouillaud, Colin Drake, Dominique Zardi, Émile Genevois, Françoise Prévost, Georges Demas, Gérard Darrieu, Henri Cogan and Henri Lambert also appearing.

Borderie and Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon wrote the screenplay. Art director René Moulaert designed the sets and Paul Misraki wrote the music. The film runs about 91 minutes. It opened in French cinemas on 21 September 1960, and in West German ones on 22 July 1960.

DirectorBernard Borderie
Women Are Like That (Comment qu'elle est ?)

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Cast

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Dominique Zardi Actor · died at 79 Françoise Brion Françoise Brion Actor · died at 92 Eddie Constantine André Luguet Alfred Adam Albert Michel Billy Kearns Charles Bouillaud Colin Drake Émile Genevois Françoise Prévost Georges Demas Gérard Darrieu Henri Cogan Henri Lambert

Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

If you put it on as a spy film, adjust your expectations: it sits between comedy and thriller, and that middle ground waters the tension down quite a bit in my view. The tough FBI agent is fun, but the sense of danger never really climbs. Running about ninety minutes saves the pace; it is over before it drags. Too light for anyone after real suspense, fine for anyone after old-school, breezy entertainment.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Lemmy Caution is the kind of hero audiences of those years went to the cinema for: tough, easy-going, sure of himself. That this was Eddie Constantine's fifth time in the role says a lot about how fond viewers had grown of him. Paul Misraki's score carries the mood of the period. Don't expect a deep story or a weighty moral question; this was made for the pleasure of a weekend matinee. Judged on those terms, anyone who enjoys the flavour of old crime comedies will find a familiar warmth here.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Bernard Borderie is directing a series product here, and the film makes no secret of it. The Peter Cheyney adaptations had become a formula built around Constantine; as the fifth instalment this one stays inside that formula and makes no claim to surprise. What is genuinely interesting is that an American FBI agent created by a British writer became so popular in France that he carried a whole film series; that cultural transfer says more than the film itself. Technically it is tidy and brief. A useful example for anyone curious about the history of European genre cinema, but hard to call a distinctive experience on its own.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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