Alice Sapritch was unattractive and she knew it for a fact. She nevertheless decided to become an actress, aware that she would never be the love interest of the handsome hero or play the blushing. That is the reason why she set about emphasizing her lack of glamor instead of concealing it. In these conditions, two main categories were available to her, either obnoxious monsters or foolish eccentrics.
In 1971, with La folie des grandeurs, Oury gave her the opportunity to combine monstrosity and ridicule in a single character, the duenna of the Queen of Spain who, although as ugly as sin, indulges in what may well be the most comical striptease ever filmed. Unforgettable! And not being a beauty queen also happened to be an advantage. Did not she play Hamlet mother at the age of twenty-three?
And when she was older, the beauty factor having become irrelevant, she was able to embody the poignant in the TV film of the same title. The real trouble is her film career for, in spite of one or two satisfying roles, she appeared in an endless series of particularly inept vulgar French comedies. By her own admission, she would have dreamed of being directed by Bergman, Herzog and she wound up working for Philippe Clair, Jean Luret and co.
Of course there were a few exceptions to this rule, for instance when she played Aunt Elizabeth and a few appearances in good quality films at the beginning of her career but all in all her performances on the silver screen are a real disappointment compared with what she did on TV and on the boards.
