- "Horrible children! Madeline you're the worst of all!"
- ―Madame LaCroque's breakdown at her slaves' sudden revolt.
Madame LaCroque (voiced by the late Lauren Bacall) is the main antagonist of Madeline: Lost in Paris. Henri is her right-hand man, having fallen under her wing due to his failure as an actor. She is arguably the darkest, most vile character in the franchise.
Appearance[]
Madame LaCroque wears a purple dress/overcoat, and grey high heel boots. She covers her bald head with a grey wig (although this is unknown until her wig gets knocked off near the end of the film). In a brief flashback scene to her youth as a dancer, LaCroque is shown to have long, blonde hair. Following the end of her dancing career, she shaved her hair to make lace. She also has a small scar on the left side of her forehead.
Biography[]
In her youth, Madame LaCroque was once a cabaret star until one night, she lost her fame when she made an embarrassing mistake by accidentally ripping her dress while dancing before falling off the stage during a performance. Since then, she no longer performed because of her humiliation. She shaved all of her beautiful blonde hair to make lace since she had no money and started the lace factory. She, along with a failed actor named Henri, lied to the courts promising that they would take good care of the kidnapped girls. When Henri brings Madeline to her factory, the criminal duo plan to steal Madeline's family fortune while she works at the factory. She proves to be a brutal, abusive and domineering taskmaster, blaming Fifi for her piece of lace being yellowed (due to her coughing illness which was not her fault). She then locks Madeline in the detention room for defending Fifi from her.
The next day, LaCroque gets angered when she sees that a mouse was ruining the lace (because Madeline had decided on sewing cheese onto it as a surprise for the shop) and finds that the girls have sewn calls for help on their pieces of lace.
When a female customer requests red lace, LaCroque cuts off some of Madeline's hair to fulfill her request. Following this, Madeline takes off running as her taskmaster gets distracted by Chloe, who was peering in through the window. LaCroque chases after Madeline, before getting tripped over by two other girls with lace.
Four girls, including Fifi and Madeline, tie up LaCroque's legs before she cuts herself free with her scissors. She angrily promises haircuts to all her slaves, beginning with Madeline, whom she corners. Seeing the events unfold, Pepito attaches a shrunken head to a fishing rod he found in a trashcan, before using it to knock of LaCroque's wig, revealing her bald head. After seeing the shrunken head, LaCroque shrieks in terror before falling over, and the key to her shop falls out of her pocket. Fifi grabs the key and unlocks the door before Pepito and the others burst into the shop.
Madeline and a few other lace factory workers tie up LaCroque in endless rolls of lace and string, just before the police arrive with Miss Clavel and Henri in tow. Both LaCroque and Henri then get arrested by the police and were likely sentenced to several years in prison as punishment for their crimes. However, Henri may get a lighter sentence for his cooperation with the police.
Personality[]
Madame LaCroque is perhaps the most wicked and vile character in the franchise. Her personality can be best described as that of a sociopath, as LaCroque has no qualms about using manipulation, deception, violence, and intimidation to achieve her aims. She shows utterly no mercy towards her victims, nor concern for their well-being, and proves to be easily angered and irritated by slight inconveniences. While the brunt of her cruelty is reserved for her slaves, even her assistant, Henri, gets treated rather harshly, frequently getting scolded by LaCroque for speaking up without being asked to.
Toward the very end, she showed no remorse nor regret for her actions, only bitterness at being defeated and busted for her actions. As the police prepare to arrest her, she pleads innocent and blames Henri for everything, claiming that it was all his idea. As Henri attempts to flee, she kicks him, hoping to bring him down with her. LaCroque showed nothing other than bitterness after her downfall and arrest, and was likely given a lengthy prison sentence for her crimes, including forgery, fraud, kidnapping, and slavery.
Madame LaCroque after she is defeated by her slaves.
Trivia[]
- In a way she is similar to Cruella De Vil from Disney's 1961 animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians,
- LaCroque makes lace out of human hair from the little girls she kidnapped, like how Cruella tried to make a coat out of dalmatian puppies.