Background and development Dancer and humorist
Jacques Chazot published
Les Carnets de Marie-Chantal in
Elle magazine in 1956.
Les Carnets de Marie-Chantal was about the character Marie-Chantal, an archetype of a upper-class Parisian woman. Academic Marie-Anne Paveau said that the character of Maire-Chantel was a proto-type of a
snob socialite. In the stories, Marie-Chantal goes through a series of adventures between Paris,
Deauville, ski resorts, social gatherings and other parties. The
Marie-Chantal stories became popular, and made Chazot famous. Producer
Georges de Beauregard purchased the rights to character from its creator with the idea of developing it into a film series in 1963. While initially thinking of
Claude Berri, but Chazot opposed. It was then offered it to
Claude Chabrol who agreed immediately to direct.
Pre-production and filming In the 1960s, the
James Bond films inspired hundreds of variations across
continental Europe in the 1960s. Both
The Eurospy Guide (2004) and
The International Spy Film Guide (2016) listed numerous European co-productions made in Italy, Spain, France and West Germany and 19 from other countries that either parodied or blatantly plagiarized the
Bond film series. Chabrol's film
Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha in turn, was a French-Spanish-Italian-Moroccan co-production. Maghreb Uni-Films, was run out of Morocco by an associate of
Hassan II of Morocco. In the 1960s, Chabrol went into more commercially minded filmmaking. This led to director
Claude Chabrol directing a trio of
spy films:
Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche (1964),
Our Agent Tiger (1965) and
Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha. Budd Wilkins of
Slant Magazine wrote that both this film and Chabrol's
Landru (1963) found the director moving away from the naturalism of his earlier
French New Wave films. Discussing these espionage films in a 1982 interview, Chabrol said he had "the good luck to be making these films right in the era of the spy film. If the porno film had been in vogue, that would have interested me much less." Beauregard had his friend, Christian Yve, a former director of
Agence France-Presse wrote the script. The scriped was approved and reworked by Chabrol, who added the character of Doctor Lambare. The films title is a reference to
Dr. No (1962), which was released as
James Bond 007 contre Dr No in France. Initially,
Françoise Dorléac was considered for the role of Marie Chantal, who was too busy with several projects after the success of the film
That Man From Rio (1964).
Michèle Mercier was asked for the role of Marie-Chantal who declined. While
Macha Méril was also considered for the role, it ultimately went to
Marie Laforêt. Filming began on February 23, 1965. Laforêt was pregnant at the time with her daughter
Lisa Azuelos. She was able to conceal this from Chabrol until after the end of filming. To save money, all the scenes that were set in Switzerland were shot in Morocco in the
High Atlas mountains. Filming completed on May 13. ==Release and reception==