This 1937 movie,which has become very hard to see nowadays,is actually entitled "si tu m'aimes"(=if you love me)but the IMDB title is more appropriate considering what the story is about.A young girl(Aubert) in love with an electrician engineer(Barrault) becomes a celebrated chanteuse in les folies bergères.He flies to Africa for his job and she will have to choose between her career and her love.
The story is itself undistinguished and the directing is mediocre-at a time when the French cinema was at the height of its power- and the interest is only anecdotal now.
Jeanne Aubert was a successful chanteuse ,notably in "les folies bergères" some kind of French Jeannette McDonald.She was married to an American millionaire ,king of corned-beef ,who took resounding proceedings against her when she went on the stage again,in spite of his ban.
There's an interesting -for those who care - look at the thirties folies bergères ,fly- on -the -wall insight.The talent show is probably the best moment with all these people trying their luck on stage as an artist draws their caricature.
Now for the most interesting things:the three other leads were among the very best actors France had ever known.Michel Simon and Arletty work wonders ,but their lines are rather weak and they would do much better in "fric frac" and "circonstances atténuantes" (both from 1939 ). Jean -Louis Barrault,who plays Aubert's sweetheart,will team again with Arletty in 1943:and this time for what many consider as the most important film of the whole French cinema -in 1979,a poll put it at the top of the list,before "la grande illusion" and "casque d'or"-:Marcel Carné 's "les enfants du paradis".
