Recommendations of the Editorial team
Cinema means letting beautiful women do beautiful things, said François Truffaut. A few years before Truffaut’s first film, the 18-year-old actress Brigitte Bardot made her debut in 1952.
A year later she played in a film by Anatole Litvak, in 1955 in “Helen Of Troy” by Robert Wise. In 1956 she became a European symbol with the leading roles in “A daisy is stripped of its leaves” and “… and the woman always beckons”.
Symbol for what? Like Sophia Loren in Italy, she embodied the type of pragmatic and eloquent, lively and cheeky woman who doesn’t let the butter get away from her bread.
From photo model to world star
Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris into a family of industrialists from Lorraine. At the age of 15 she worked as a photo model and was discovered for the film. The second most famous blonde in the world was actually a brunette. She married the later director Roger Vadim, with whom she stayed together until 1957 and who directed her in “… and the woman always lures” in 1956.
Brigitte Bardot initially revived the old cinema of directors such as Marc Allégret and Henri-Georges Clouzot – and was then hired for some spectacular avant-garde films. Louis Malle filmed “Private Life” (1962) with her, and in 1963 she played her most beautiful role in her best film.
Masterpiece with Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt is a special event even in the director’s career, which is rich in masterpieces. With Michel Piccoli, Bardot shows the scenes of a marriage; she is both a cocotte and a diva. “Contempt” is also a film about cinema itself, when Fritz Lang makes an Odysseus film.
For “Viva Maria!” (1965), Louis Malle cast his favorite actress Jeanne Moreau alongside Bardot, and filming took place in Mexico. The two biggest stars of French cinema didn’t like each other and had bad chemistry together in comedy. She has a cameo appearance in Godard’s “Masculine-Feminine or The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola” (1966).
Career as a chanson singer
Bardot was also successful as a chanson singer: in 1967 she gave a stunning interpretation of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Harley Davidson”. In 1968 she appeared again in an episodic film by Louis Malle. After 1970, the films in which Bardot appeared became increasingly weak. She made “Don Juan 73” with Roger Vadim, then it was over forever.
Retreat and animal protection
She sold the property from her marriage to Gunther Sachs, founded a foundation for animals and retired to her property near Saint-Tropez. From then on she was a somewhat strange cat woman whose statements about animal protection and, most recently, sexual assaults repeatedly caused a sensation. She had radical views and formulated them without compromise. Every now and then you would see a photo of the still beautiful lady, now without make-up.
Now Brigitte Bardot, the last and greatest star of cinema before the Nouvelle Vague, has died on the Côte d’Azur at the age of 91.