Madame Adelaide-de Bonfamille

“*She'd always say that we're the greatest treasure she could own.*”―Duchess describing her kind mistress to Thomas O'Malley

**Madame Adelaide Bonfamille** is a supporting character from Disney's 1970 animated feature film, the *Aristocats*. She is a wealthy, elderly woman who is the owner of Duchess and her kittens and a former opera singer until her retirement.

## Background

Madame Bonfamille, often simply called Madame, is an elderly, wealthy woman, who apparently was a famous opera singer at one point (she said that she once played the title character of George Bizet's *Carmen*, and was even seen dancing to the aria "Habanera"). At the time of the film, however, she had no living relatives, thus she doted on her cats. Her other friends included her lawyer, Georges Hautecourt, and her former butler, Edgar Balthazar. Despite her old age, Madame Bonfamille has a sophisticated appearance.

### Personality

Madame is a polite socialite who is very kind and generous and at times vain (though not distastefully so). She loves her cats dearly, telling them that they are the greatest treasure she could own and is unaware of Edgar's evil schemes. Her main downfall is that she's too trusting of others (not knowing Edgar's evil scheme).

### Physical appearance

Madame has long, silvery-white hair, usually worn up in a Gibson Girl-style bun (except when she is sleeping, where it extends down to below her shoulders, though she wears a night bonnet while asleep), having an elderly appearance, and wears a violet-red Edwardian Era dress. She wears a long lavender nightgown when she is sleeping, including a purple bonnet and a pink dressing gown.

## Biography

### *The Aristocats*

At the beginning of the film, she is seen in her carriage, driven by Edgar, with her cats. Upon returning home, it is revealed that she is expecting her lawyer and longtime friend Georges Hautecourt to come to handle some business matters. After he arrives, she tells Georges that she wants to make out her will. She notes that she has no living relatives, only her cats, and Edgar, which Georges interprets to mean that she is leaving her extensive fortune to Edgar. Madame corrects him, revealing her plan to leave the fortune to Duchess and the kittens. Edgar is to care for the cats until their death when he will inherit the vast wealth himself. Unknown to Georges and Madame, Edgar has overheard her intentions through the pipes. Fearful that he will be dead before he can inherit, he kidnaps the cats and drops them off in the French countryside. Madame learns of their disappearance after waking up in the middle of that stormy night appearing to have a nightmare about them. She goes to check the cats' bed, only to a flash of lightning from outside reveal that it is empty. She is noticeably horrified, saddened and worried by the cats' sudden disappearance but does not know that Edgar was the one who got rid of them.

Much later, Madame thinks she has heard the kittens and rushes to check the door, bringing Edgar with her. Unknown to her, Edgar has heard the kittens earlier and had trapped them in an old oven until he could get rid of them again. When the cats don't appear, Madame sorrowfully returns to her house, and Edgar resumes his scheme. However, the cats are rescued from Edgar by their new friend, Thomas O'Malley, and they send Edgar away by shoving him into a trunk headed for Timbuktu. Then, the cats all return safely to the Madame's house.

At the end of the film, it is revealed that Madame has adopted O'Malley, citing the need for a man around the house. While taking a portrait of the cats, she laments that Edgar left. She is unaware of the real reason for Edgar’s disappearance, ironically thinking that he wouldn't have left had he known about the will. Per her instructions, George’s removes Edgar from the will, and replaces him with O’Malley. Madame begins a foundation that opens up her home for the alley cats of Paris, which is revealed to already include the cats’ new friends Scat Cat and his gang of Alley Cats.

## Trivia

* The name "Bonfamille" is derived from the French phrase for "good family" ("bon" being the masculine word for "good" and "famille" meaning "family," though "famille" is feminine, so the right way would have been "bonne famille").
* Madame Adelaide mentions Marie's name and Toulouse's name both just once, but she never mentions Berlioz's name. She mostly just refers to all 3 of them as her kittens.
* Adelaide bears a striking resemblance to Lady Tremaine (who has her own cat on whom she dotes), though Adelaide is a morally good and benevolent character.
* While welcoming Thomas into the family, Adelaide expresses a hope that he and Duchess will have kittens together and make their family a little bigger.
* Adelaide apparently never discover why her cats disappeared, Edgar’s true intentions, or why he left.