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A Certain Smile (film)

1958 film directed by Jean Negulesco

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ3548431 ↗
Source-derived summary

A Certain Smile is a 1958 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the book of the same name by Françoise Sagan.

Plot

In Paris, beautiful Dominique Vallon is involved with a young man, Bertrand Griot, until suddenly entering into an unwise week-long romance with his wealthy and married uncle, Luc Ferrand.

Cast

Rossano Brazzi as Luc Ferrand

Joan Fontaine as Françoise Ferrand

Bradford Dillman as Bertrand Griot

Christine Carère as Dominique Vallon

Eduard Franz as M. Vallon

Katherine Locke as Mme. Vallon

Kathryn Givney as Mme. Griot

Steven Geray as Denis

Johnny Mathis as Himself

Trude Wyler as Mme. Denis

Sandy Livingston as Catherine

Renate Hoy as Mlle. Minot

Muzaffer Tema as Pierre

Production

Christine Carère was cast in the main role, although she didn't know any English at the time. She was brought to Hollywood and trained for ten months before filming. The Production Code Administration only authorized the film after substantial changes to the novel's story line. Negulesco later agreed "that A Certain Smile has not much of Sagan.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “A Certain Smile (film)” is 1958 film directed by Jean Negulesco. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Certain, Smile and film, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1958—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1958-07-31, 1958-09-08, 1958-09-19, 1958-09-22—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. For this dossier, Certain, Smile and film is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1958 film directed by Jean Negulesco” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3548431. 10 of 10 selected statements include explicit references; 10 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1958.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “A Certain Smile (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow A Certain Smile (film) primary sources, A Certain Smile (film) archive and Certain research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Certain Smile (film)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “A Certain Smile (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.