Broadcast the Tuesday June 25, 2024 at 10:35 p.m. on Paris Première, the documentary The Pretty Life of Sylvie Joly of course traces the career of the comedian, but it is also interested in his life off the stage. We learn in particular that at school, she was a strong head and that her classmate was the future Bernadette Chirac.
The Pretty Life of Sylvie Joly, this is the title of the lovely documentary broadcast Tuesday June 25, 2024 at 10:35 p.m. on Paris Première. A documentary which of course retraces the formidable career of the comedian, who died on September 4, 2015 at the age of 80, but which looks back more broadly on his life, far from the spotlight. The one who, years before Sandrine Sarroche and Caroline Vigneaux, ended her career as a lawyer to launch into humor, has in fact lived an existence not always as funny as her sketches.
Sylvie Joly kicked out of school seven times
Long before making viewers laugh on stage, Sylvie Joly lived a childhood marked by seriousness and rigor. Indeed, the comedian was born on October 28, 1934 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, into a large, Catholic and bourgeois family. Sylvie Joly’s father, Lucien, is a former naval officer. He is a severe man, with a rigid upbringing, and terribly angry. As for her mother, Françoise, she has great ambitions for her children: for the boys to enter Polytechnique and for the girls to marry polytechnic students. Suffice to say that the atmosphere at home is not fun. And neither at school, since Sylvie Joly goes to a Catholic establishment. Already rebellious and willingly cheeky, little Sylvie shows the good sisters all the colors. His attitude even earned him the label of “a problem student” explains the documentary. Little Sylvie is unable to adapt to the school system. “She got fired seven times, so she had to do some stupid things“, says Mathilde, her daughter.
“Rowdy like no other“: Bernadette Chirac evokes Sylvie Joly’s attitude when they were in the same class
Sylvie Joly’s antics certainly earned her many reprimands, but also quite a reputation among the other students and their parents. Thus, several decades after their time at school, one of her classmates remembers her very well. And this woman is not unknown, since she is Bernadette Chirac. An archive image shown in the documentary The Pretty Life of Sylvie Joly testifies to this. “In class, she was rowdy as hell.” remembers the former First Lady. “And she was walking me home and mom wasn’t so happy. She thought she looked bad“. This non-conformism which was so criticized when she was a child, will ultimately be her strength when Sylvie Joly launches into humor.
