Film

The Shameless Old Lady

Name: The Shameless Old Lady
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1965
Cast: Sylvie, Victor Lanoux, Malka Ribowska, François Maistre, Étienne Bierry

Comedy
Light-hearted

A French widow of seventy inherits freedom along with her late husband's modest savings. She decides to actually *live* for once—dancing, traveling, eating well, befriending strangers—and discovers that joy is far cheaper than the respectability she's been hoarding. Warm, funny, and genuinely radical for 1965 in its refusal to apologize for female appetite.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Amélie2001

Similarly joyful and French, with a protagonist who delights in small pleasures and small rebellions. Both films find profound happiness in whimsy and kindness rather than grand gestures.

But Amélie's whimsy can feel precious to some. If you find the twee unbearable, this won't convert you.

Ikiru1952

A man realizing, too late, that he's wasted his life on duty and routine. Like Madame Bertini, it's about discovering what actually matters—but Kurosawa's tone is far more elegiac and painful.

But It's in Japanese, black and white, and genuinely devastating. This is not a light evening.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin2024

A documentary about a young man who lived fully in a virtual world while dying of cancer. Like Madame Bertini, it's about choosing joy and connection over convention, even when the stakes are impossibly high.

But It's heavy and sad. The emotional weight is real, and you'll need to be ready for that.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Shameless Old Lady

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie1972

Both films use the comedy of transgression against social norms, but where Madame Bertini is warmly humanistic, Buñuel is coldly surreal. Same target, opposite weapons.

Buñuel's surrealist masterpiece about a group who can never actually have dinner together because reality keeps breaking down. Like Madame Bertini, it's a comedy about constraint and desire, but filtered through dreams and absurdism—French 1970s cinema at its most inventive.

But It's deliberately strange and non-linear. If you want plot to make rational sense, this will frustrate you.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie poster

Harold and Maude1971

A romance between a twenty-year-old and an eighty-year-old woman who's decided to live with maximum eccentricity and joy. If Madame Bertini delighted you, this cult classic should too.

But The humor is very 1970s avant-garde and won't land the same way for everyone. It can feel dated or deliberately obscure.

Nomadland2021

An older woman choosing freedom and movement over stability. Chloé Zhao's film is quieter and more meditative than Madame Bertini, but shares its core belief in the dignity of unconventional choices.

But It's slow and spare, almost docudrama in feel. If you want narrative momentum, you'll find this frustratingly understated.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel2012

Older people refusing to fade away, finding adventure and community in India. It's earnest and heartfelt about second acts and reinvention, though lighter in touch than Madame Bertini.

But It's a bit of a crowd-pleaser, which means it can feel slightly sanitized and sentimental to some viewers.

A Woman's Tale1991

An Australian film about an aging woman facing mortality with humor, grace, and refusal to become tragic. It's tender and unsentimental about aging and pleasure.

But It's not well-known and can be hard to find. It's also melancholic where Madame Bertini is ebullient.

The Hundred-Foot Journey2014

Two cultures colliding in a story about food, hospitality, and older people who still have passion left in them. It's comfort-watch material about breaking conventions through generosity.

But It's very mainstream and can feel slight—a pleasant evening rather than something that stays with you.

Yi Yi2000

Both films argue that the examined life—the life lived consciously and with attention to others—is the only one worth living. Madame Bertini finds it through hedonism; Yi Yi finds it through family and attention. Same destination, opposite paths.

Edward Yang's three-hour Taiwanese epic about a family across generations discovering that life is bigger and messier and more joyful than duty allows. It captures the same spiritual awakening as Madame Bertini but in a radically different register—intimate, novelistic, almost musicological.

But Three hours. In Mandarin. Deliberately paced. This is not a film you watch casually.

Stalker1979

Both films are about the fundamental human need to want something beyond what society deems appropriate or safe. Madame Bertini wants to dance and eat ice cream; Stalker's characters want to find a room that grants wishes. The desire is what matters, and the price of pursuing it.

Tarkovsky's metaphysical science-fiction film about a guide leading people into a mysterious zone. It's not about joy or widowhood, but about desire itself—what we really want, why we want it, whether we have the courage to pursue it. Madame Bertini's story told as cosmic philosophy.

But It's 163 minutes of deliberate, meditative pacing. If you need action or conventional plot, this will feel like punishment.