One unnoticed, nice pun - among others
A Chabrol not yet in full bloom but a nonetheless durable and impressive first footprint. What is really surprising - and yes, a tad depressing - are the abysmally rare comments in this forum: is this movie that poorly known? I would have thought that this fairly accessible and pleasant movie would have suited the tastes of a large variety of viewers and should have raised at least a few comments and discussions. But not!
Oh well...I'll start with something I found so hilarious when I first viewed this movie. The pair of arch-gay characters living in Frédérique's house are named Robègue and Riais. Separately, there's nothing unusual about it, except that... if you appose the first name to the other, i.e. Robègue-Riais, and pronounce it in French with the two names running one into the other, you .... get the name of the famous "nouveau roman", SM-oriented director, Robbe-Grillet!! Very appropriate for these very very gay guys, who keep citing one famous name after another non-stop, and speak a very pedantic style of French. They sort of symbolize the decadent existentialistic intellectuals of the 60s, and who's more chic than ... Robbe-Grillet?
This pun is only one example of the savory lines that abound in that movie. And it starts with the very title, Les Biches, which can be understood either (a) in its literal sense, i.e. "The Does" (as represented by the pictures of wide-eyed does in Why's possession); or (b) as "The Chicks" - because biches also means "darlings" (as in "Bonjour ma biche" ("Hello my dear") or "gals, chicks, girls" (as in Il est venu ici avec sa biche ("He came here with his gal") in a non-derogatory manner (so please don't pronounce it "bitch", but rather "bi-sh" !!); or (c) finally as "lesbiches", which is a slang French term for lesbians - no comments necessary. As you see, the title is rich in possible signifiers, and is just one example of the various wordplays that Chabrol just loves to insert in the dialogs.
Of course, a solid knowledge of the French language is almost mandatory to appreciate the humor in which Les Biches is replete. Another good motivation for someone to perfect his/her mastery of French?
More later on this and other Chabrol movies from his golden era (end 60s-early 70s)...