The Oldest Profession
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Michèle Mercier
Enrico Maria Salerno
Gabriele Tinti
Elsa Martinelli
Gastone Moschin
Jeanne Moreau
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The history of prostitution is traced in six episodes, from prehistoric times. PREHISTORIC ERA depicts a tribe of cave dwellers who are happily engaging in sex. One girl, Brit, however, discovers the art of makeup, as well as the fact that she can get things in exchange for sleeping with men. In ROMAN NIGHTS a bored emperor leaves his wife, only to find her disguised as a slave girl in a bawdy house. MADEMOISELLE MIMI lives during the French Revolution, and she is delighted when a young man bursts into her room explaining that he wants to watch his uncle's execution from her window. He convinces Mimi that he will inherit his uncle's fortune, and she permits him to join her in bed. After they make love he leaves, revealing that he is actually a penniless student. During THE GAY NINETIES Nini, a stripteaser, picks up an elderly banker. She pretends to believe that he is very poor and that she really loves him. Nini is successful in getting him to marry her. The next episode, PARIS TODAY, involves a prostitute, Catherine, who works from a car driven by her friend, Nadia. When the car is impounded, they use an ambulance instead. They are chased by police but are saved in the end by the fact that their client is a doctor. Looking towards the future in the final segment, ANTICIPATION, a man from outer space visits Earth where prostitution has been automated and divided into its physical and sentimental aspects. He is equally unmoved by "Miss Conversation," who recites romances, and "Miss Physical," a silent bedmate, until he realizes that the mouth is one part of the body that can play a part in both aspects. Together, the spaceman and the chattering girl rediscover the kiss!
Cast
Michèle Mercier
Enrico Maria Salerno
Gabriele Tinti
Elsa Martinelli
Gastone Moschin
Jeanne Moreau
Jean-claude Brialy
Jean Richard
Raquel Welch
Martin Held
Siegfried Schurenberg
Tilly Lauenstein
Nadia Gray
France Anglade
Jacques Duby
Francis Blanche
Marcel Dalio
Anna Karina
Marilu Tolo
Jacques Charrier
Jean-pierre Léaud
Daniel Bart
Jean-patrick Lebel
Crew
Jean Aurenche
Claude Autant-lara
Joseph Bergholz
Charles Bitsch
Mauro Bolognini
Daniel Boulanger
Philippe De Broca
André Cultet
Max Douy
Bernard Evein
Ennio Flajano
Jean-luc Godard
Jean-luc Godard
Agnès Guillemot
Herta Hareiter
Jack H. Harris
Heinz Hölscher
Franco Indovina
Wolfgang Kühnlenz
Michel Legrand
Pierre Lhomme
Susanne Paschen
Maurice Petri
Michael Pfleghar
Andre Tabet
Georges Tabet
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Opened in Paris in April 1967 as Le plus vieux métier du monde; running time: 115 min; released in West Germany in April 1967 as Das älteste Gewerbe der Welt; running time: 119 min; in Italy in 1967 as L'amore attraverso i secoli. The episode entitled "The Gay Nineties" May also be known as "The Good Old Days," and "Paris Today" as "Today." Original titles of the six episodes are as follows: "Ère préhistorique," "Nuits romaines," "Mademoiselle Mimi," "La belle époque," "Aujourd'hui," and "Anticipation."
