In the mid-1970s, Coline Serreau tackled her first work of fiction on sub­jects that were still taboo in French cin­ema: bisexuality and polyamory. With its ménage à trois made up of Alexa, Louis and Fernand, tucked away in a suburban home, Pourquoi pas! shook up social conventions.

The screenplay was twice refused CNC’s “advance against earnings” fund­ing – established in 1959 by the Min­ister for Cultural Affairs, André Mal­raux, to allow original films struggling for finance to see the light of day. Un­deterred, Serreau showed her project to Antoinette Fouque, one of the pioneers of the Women’s Liberation Movement, who was meanwhile helping her to shoot the documentary Mais qu’est-ce qu’elles veulent?. It was third time lucky when the film came next before the commis­sion, with one jury member threatening to resign if Pourquoi pas! was not sup­ported. In December 1977, the three­some finally got to live out their affair on the big screen. It is sensitively performed by Christine Murillo and Mario Gonza­lez, who would go on to enjoy significant careers in theatre, and Sami Frey, in a departure from his customary brooding romantic roles.

Hailed by the critics, the film won numerous prizes and was well-received by the public in France and beyond. But television back then was still under the yolk of ORTF, the French Broadcasting and Television Office that, in 1975, did not seem disposed to allow this joy­ous and subversive utopia into viewers’ homes. The state channel FR3 that had agreed to part-fund the film withdrew on learning that it featured homosexuality. Unaired and eclipsed by the phenomenal success of Trois hommes et un couffin, Pourquoi pas! slowly fell into obscurity. It was high time to rediscover this im­portant and gently subversive film.

Tristan Brossat

In this incisive short film, young mum (Nathalie Baye) hastily leaves her baby with the neighbour to go to an audition for a TV advert in which she must play a “very sexy” character…

In five minutes, Coline Serreau cap­tures with irony and acuity the contra­dictions, between maternal responsibili­ties, societal expectations and strict rules around seduction, imposed on women. Made right at the start of her career, this film bears early witness to the feminist commitment of the filmmaker who was closely involved with women’s liberation movements.

The film was produced by French public television for a programme called F comme Femme, broadcast on An­tenne2. At that time, French public television was especially open to exper­imentation in theme and format. Le Rendez-vous comes from a time when a new generation was buying into the small screen to examine societal norms with fresh eyes; analytical, while deep­ly anchored in everyday life. Two other short films, one by Agnès Varda (later known as Réponse de femmes), the other by Nina Companeez, reflected the ethos of the series.

Nathanaël Arnould