Zou Bisou Bisou

Those of you who who caught the Mad Men Season 5 premiere were “treated” to Don’s new wife Megan (played by stunning Montréal native Jessica Paré) performing this song for Don as a “birthday present.” The discomfort of Don, who hates birthdays, and hates even more the idea of his co-workers in his private space, as well as most of the guests in the room is palpable. (“You could almost see his soul leaving his body,” a co-worker says the next Monday morning.) Nevertheless, Paré plays this with such a sweet and natural sexiness, it’s just enchanting. (She later complains to Peggy that everyone at the agency is so cynical and jaded, looking to tear each other down.)

Edited to add: Tom and Lorenzo of course distill this down beautifully in their style recap here.

This was where the youthfulness on one side of the room crashed into the adulthood on the other side. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand Don. She understands him better than most of the women he’s been with; that sex scene proved it. What she couldn’t understand was how the older people in the room would view her. To her young friends, she’s fabulous and fun. To the SCDP crowd she was either inappropriate or begging for sex. They couldn’t – none of them – see it as just fun and playful.

Did a search and found the original version of the song sung by Gillian Hills. (Quite a bit more innocent than Megan’s version…)

 

Sophia Loren also performed this song in the 1960 film “The Millionairess.” Alas, no clips to be found.
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13 Comments

  1. THank you for the wonderful research! I had a sense of deja vue ( no pun intended) with the song, but could not place it. Now I reaize that Megan was styled to look like Sophia Loren with a cloud of dark hair and a short black chiffon dress. I actually have a vague memory of her singing that song in a very short dress and balloons in a similar playful manner. For some reason I associate it with the movie Houseboat with Cary Grant.

  2. I happened to watch Mad Men for the first time Sunday night and I loved it. I tend to watch whatever the house is watching which includes alot of basketball and the amazing treat of Nascar!

  3. LOVED it. She was the highlight (for all, it would seem…not just horny Harry).

    SALON & ADVERTISING AGE have xlnt blog style articles on Season 5 episode 1. Some very funny & astute POVs.

  4. I loved that she did this, but in terms of the story arc and the character, I see this as the beginning of the rift and disillusionment between them. So poignant – she’s so sweet and alluring, but it’s totally the wrong audience – both the cohorts AND Don.

  5. I’m surprised the love has died for Tabs. We loved the show and yes, Megan stole the show. Thank you for the original clip — so sweet.