Clouzot broke dramatically from the bracing cynicism of his Forties films with Miquette et sa Mère, a frothy romantic comedy about a young woman determined to become a stage actress, despite her widowed mother's determination to find her daughter an eligible and wealthy husband. An anomalous entry in Clouzot's oeuvre, his only comedy is also his sole film not set in the immediate present – unfolding instead in the nostalgia-tinted belle époque. One of four roles memorably played for Clouzot by Louis Jouvet, Miquette et sa Mère is a light-hearted vehicle for the popular French comedian Bourvil.