The title of this film is a direct reference to the title of a book by 18-year-old Agnes (Brigitte Bardot), published under the name 'A.D.' (her initials) because the book is about the people in her hometown of Vichy and she didn't want everyone to know she wrote it. She ends up in Paris, broke, and needs to raise 180,000 Francs quickly, and her only hope is to enter a strip tease contest. She, and the two newspaper friends she meets on the train to Paris, make quite a good comedy trio. Even with English subtitles this is a fun and funny film, and is a great introduction to the early Bardot without her nudity.
some SPOILERS following, read further at your considered discretion.
Agnes' father, a general, was so upset she had written a book about their town, he forceably was sending her away by train to a convent, but instead she hopped onto the train to Paris, needing to borrow money from the news men for the billet. That created the connection, so that the two guys would need to keep track of her. In the process one of them, the confirmed batchelor and womanizer, fell in love with her. Agnes went to the address her brother had given her, but instead of his house it was a museum, instead of being the wealthy painter he claimed, he was a poor tour guide. Wanting clothes and other things, Agnes took a valuable book and sold it, and that is what created her desperate need for 180,000 Fr, her brother insisted they buy it back and replace it. She decided to enter the strip tease contest which pays 200,000 Fr to the winner. (I suspect about $200 to $300 equivalent in 1950 money.
Shy, she calls herself 'Sophie' and decides to wear a mask while stripping, and she wins. Her fiancee goes into her dressing room, unaware that she is really Agnes, and pretends to be in love with Sophia, so he can get a story. This confuses Agnes, and creates the romantic tension for the last scene. The finals of the contest are in her town of Vichy, her brother is there, her dad is a judge, her fiancee finds out the truth, she gets someone else to strip for her, presumably everyone turns out happy.
At 99 minutes this is an easy film to watch, the action and situations are never dull. There is brief torso nudity, in context of the contest, but no Bardot nudity. If this film were released today it would probably be PG-13. I saw it on DVD, the restored version in B&W. Except for a minute of so in the last half, where the image became very dark, it is a very fine video transfer. Extras are limited to several Bardot movie trailers. A free loan from my local county library.
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