Frou-Frou

Overview

Frou-Frou is a play in five acts by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, first performed at the Théâtre du Gymnase, Paris, on 30 October 1869. Unlike nearly all the work of the pair it is not a comedy but a serious drama; contemporaries credited much of its success to Aimée Desclée, who created the part of Gilberte (Wikipédia fr, "Frou-Frou (comédie)"; Arthur Heulhard, Le Courrier de l'art, 27 September 1883, cited there). Gilberte, nicknamed "Frou-Frou" for the rustle of her silk, is a spoilt, frivolous young woman. The part was later played by Sarah Bernhardt (Porte-Saint-Martin, 1888) and by Marsy at the Comédie-Française (1892) (same source). The title also gave French the word frou-frou.

Plot (as Marie recounts it)

Gilberte marries M. de Sartorys; her sister Louise, who loves him, comes to run the household and cares for Gilberte's small son. Jealous of her sister, Gilberte leaves with De Valréas (who had earlier asked for her hand). Sartorys kills the lover in a duel in Venice; Gilberte returns to die, forgiving and forgiven, and asks that her husband marry Louise.

Marie and this work

• 1875-09-07 (041.0222): Marie comes home from the Gymnase, "on donnait «Frou-Frou», comédie qui laisse à désirer, mais bien jouée", with "de très belles scènes", but she does not admire it as much as Octave Feuillet's Le Sphinx (1874; see LE_SPHINX). She retells the whole plot (calling the husband "Lertoris", i.e. Sartorys) and argues with it at length: she thinks Gilberte foolish, jealous of her sister, and says that Gilberte dies not of remorse but because her lover was killed.
• 1875-10-18 (047.0142): her aunt retells the play to Maman "avec des commentaires et avec des applications", warning Marie that after marriage she must not return to Nice, because Audiffret ("ce.") will never marry "et qu'il y aura un roman". Frou-Frou is the aunt's cautionary tale about a woman and a former suitor.
• 1875-11-20 (050.0087): about to go to the Gymnase to see Sardou's Ferréol: "Cela va sans doute me donner des idées amoureuses comme «Frou-Frou»."

Sources

• Wikipédia fr, "Frou-Frou (comédie)".
• Théâtre de Meilhac et Halévy, vol. I (Calmann Lévy, 1901), via Internet Archive.

Note on previous text

The earlier version of this entry said the play was "written exclusively for" Aimée Desclée; the sources consulted here say only that she created Gilberte and was credited with its success, so that claim has been dropped.