Signoret's star persona and redressing the costume cinema: Jacques Becker's Casque d'Or (1952)

Abstract

This article comes in three parts, all three with a view to revealing how Signoret's star persona does not necessarily occupy the place that we might imagine. First, an investigation as to how Signoret was shot in the film shows that she is framed less conventionally than at first might appear. Second, a brief outline of the differences between the filmic and the original historic personage she plays in this film reveals a different type of displacement, this time at the level of narrative. Finally, a rather detailed study of the film as a costume drama with particular reference to Signoret's costumes will provide a reading which shows how her body challenges both the generic prototype of the costume drama and, just as powerfully, the notion of the split subject.