Bel Ami

'Bubblier than champagne and lighter than the air of Paris' has been the verdict of French critics on the co- scenarist, director and star of Bel Ami. In the congenial role of Maupassant's irresistible womaniser, who uses his charm to get to the top, the Viennese Forst managed to resurrect the frivolous light-heartedness of a waltzing never-never land in the shape of turn-of-the-century Paris. A delightful parade of Germany's most forceful female stars as Bel Ami's victims (?), and satirical comments on bourgeois parliamentarianism and the free press make it doubly interesting to watch, considering its market was Nazi Germany in 1939.