The Goddess of the Road — documentary by Gilles Cayatte on the Citroën DS

In this document

This transcript is an automatic subtitle (voice recognition): there are numerous errors regarding proper names (the engineer's name appears notably under the spellings "le fèbre" then "magess" (38:13-38:18), which we silently correct to Paul Magès, the only time the film names him explicitly).

The document is a documentary by Gilles Cayatte, broadcast on France 5 (schedule announcement at the opening, 00:00-00:20), dedicated to the collective memory sparked by the Citroën DS. The film alternates between archival footage with voice-over commentary, excerpts from period newsreels, and contemporary testimonies filmed on board a moving DS.

The common thread is a nostalgic road trip: "it was at that moment that my mother began to sing" (02:16-02:20), the starting point for an evocation of "holidays" and the Nationale 7, punctuated by the Charles Trenet song quoted at length (39:39-40:22).

Several technical themes are discussed with passengers or a former design office engineer:

• the semi-automatic gearbox and the absence of a clutch pedal: "no clutch pedal it's a semi-automatic gearbox" (03:15-03:20), presented as a novelty of the Paris Motor Show of October 1955 (03:25-03:34), which aligns with the DS presentation date of 6 October 1955;
• power steering and front disc brakes (04:28-04:50);
• the suspension: "the hydropneumatic suspension with constant height, well that too was something never seen before" (04:56-05:01), followed by a period advertising clip on "the elasticity of air and the suppleness of water" (05:03-05:20) then a detailed mechanical explanation by a contributor identified as a former Citroën design office employee, Jean-Paul Cardinal (05:39-06:02);
• the principle of hydraulic spheres is then demonstrated concretely during a wheel change: "the oil under pressure released by the valve enters the sphere and pushes back the piston, the car slowly returns to its level" (37:53-38:08), which echoes the hydropneumatic suspension plans with differential interaction.

The film also collects family and political memories: the DS as the "doctor's car, the notable's, the prefect's" (13:34-13:45); the memory of a politician's son for whom "the goddess is the car of my two fathers in politics [...] General de Gaulle" (17:42-17:57); then the direct evocation of the Petit-Clamart attack, with a newsreel excerpt: "we reach the presidential DS, one [bullet] of which went through the bodywork on the side where General de Gaulle was" (20:51-21:02).

The subject of directional headlights is also documented: "General de Gaulle had greatly appreciated this rotating headlight system [...] how is it that we didn't think of it before" (42:15-42:31).

The filming finally evokes the end of the model's commercial career: "the industrial and commercial adventure of the goddess stopped in 75, after 20 years" (47:09-47:22), in favour of the CX, presented in August 1974 (47:32-47:40) — coinciding with Paul Magès' retirement in September 1974 (photographs of the retirement).

Context

The Citroën DS, presented in 1955, owes its hydropneumatic suspension to the work led by Paul Magès starting from the plans of 17 February 1944 and the first tests of May-July 1946 on the 2 CV, then refined during the test of the 15-Six H in April 1954. Having joined Citroën in 1925 at 17 and a half, a self-taught man who became deputy head of Super-Control, Magès remained there for 49 years, until his retirement in September 1974 — the very year the documentary situates the scheduled end of DS production. Gilles Cayatte's film, whose precise broadcast date is not confirmed by the transcript itself, is part of French television production of retrospectives on popular automobiles and the great political figures associated with certain models (here General de Gaulle and the DS).

Archivist's perspective

The title appears as an overlay from the opening, but the bulk of the film consists of testimonies from individuals and a professional (Jean-Paul Cardinal) filmed in real driving conditions, mixed with archival images (INA, newsreels, period Citroën advertisements). The only technical passage explicitly devoted to the hydropneumatic device cites the inventor's name, although distorted by automatic voice recognition — which invites a cautious reading of any nominative mention in this type of source. The rarity of this direct mention of Paul Magès in a mainstream document contrasts with the place given to him by the internal archives of the collection (draft letters, technical plans, tests), and illustrates the gap between the media memory of the DS — largely centred on the object, the style, and the political and emotional weight of the vehicle — and the technical recognition of its designer, better documented in the workshop and design office documents kept by the family. This film can usefully be compared with other items in the collection dealing with the public reception of the DS, such as The Fabulous History of the DS, by Serge Dubor or the family montage In the Shadow of Our Sister the DS.