...And God Created Woman - Criterion Collection (1957)

Lively, Sexy, Spunky entry of women in sex roles. A classic

This film is a classic in that the door was opened for women to perfom in vamp-tramp settings with some nudity and lots of spunky fun. Bridget is a deliciously sexy, loose, untamable, pouting young lady who disobeys her parents. At the same time she steals the heart of a rich older man who wants sex without marriage initially. She is coy. The oldest brother of
a local family propositions her, claiming he'll take her away to stay always together. Yet she hears him boast that his plans are just for a one night stand. Her parents get ready to return her to the orphanage, being still not quite of legal age. A younger brother and shy guy asks her to marry him. The wedding bells ring while many on the side wonder when she'll dump him. Yet she tries to be a good wife, introducing him into the pleasures of marital sex. Still having a wild spirit, she takes a boat into the harbor and it catches fire. The older brother rescues her and soaking wet, they have sex on the sand under a tree. She becomes
confused and starts drinking, then finds a lively band and begins dancing
up a red hot storm. The older guy tries to get her away offering marriage.
The older brother tries to stop her wild dancing. The husband comes in to and is appalled. Yet he is deeply in love. But there is only so much that can be done to save their marriage. Can it be done? What is his magic?
The ending scenes say a lot. But I found the movie to end without some
closure. Yet maybe this is the trick. Imagine if the movie were made today. Instead of one quick shot of her nude backside, breasts would be
shown in close detail & she wouldn't wear undies while wildly dancing.
But this movie is a trail blazer. Bridgette walking along swaying her
hips wearing only loose dress: Breathtaking. Sheer temptation. Enjoy. July 4, 2008

This is the first film for Bardo & one of the famousof her movies.

I like to own many & famous films from the past , I think it's much better than now , noboby like: Doris Day , Lana Turner , Bette Davis & others March 4, 2008

But where's Isabel?

I only saw this film because I learned that Isabel Corey (the beauty discovered by Jean-Pierre Melville and displayed in BOB LE FLAMBEUR) was in it. But director Roger Vadim probably feared the competition she presented to his wife, Brigitte Bardot, and kept Corey at a distance, or off-screen or in indistinct profile. I'd prefer Isabel to Brigitte any day.

Which is not to say that Brigitte lacked appeal. She had a pouty cuteness. She was a force of nature and that trumped her meager acting skills. Similar to Marilyn Monroe, whose acting was better when she sang, Brigitte blossomed when she danced -- which she does beautifully towards the end of this film.

The story is slightly less vacuous then I expected. There's a honesty about this over-sexed teenager with slippery clothes who yearns for a young man -- while being lusted after by an older man -- who manipulates her into marrying the young man's brother. To those who've known a girl like that, it all rings true.

I was surprised to find this film in color. And how beautiful St Tropez was made to look by director Roger Vadim. He must have loved the French seacoast as much as he loved Bardot.

In sum: beautiful scenery -- Bardot, in heat and at various stages of undress -- and a story about the effects of a lusty woman. What more could a man ask for? Well...he could ask for lotsa closeups of Isabel. December 9, 2007

Maybe I wanted a friend

Director: Roger Vadim
Duration: 92 minutes

Being that I have been delving into French New Wave films of the 1960s for the past few months, I figured that it was time for me to watch a film staring one of the key actresses of the period: the blonde, statuesque Brigitte Bardot. Before watching "...and God created woman," the only film in which I had seen Bardot was Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin feminin (1966). However, her presence was quite magnetic, so I was quite curious to see why her star rose to the top in the realm of French cinema.

In Vadim's debut film, Bardot stars as Juliette an eighteen year old orphan who has been taken into foster care by an elderly couple. However, she is a bit less than "grateful." Instead of doing her best to please her benefactors, Juliette spends most of her time lazing about, eating, shopping, and sunbathing in the nude. However, her main from of entertainment is men and with two men in particular: the rich and older Eric Carradine and the poorer but handsome Antoine Tardieu. Carradine, because of his great wealth, generally tries to win the affection of Juliette through a number of gifts, but the young girl's heart truly belongs to Antoine. Yet, after she overhears Antoine, who has just asked her to run away with him, that he intends to only have her for one night and then dump her, she runs back to Carradine, but her heart won't let her give herself to him. She then goes back to Antoine, but refuses to stay with him the night. Her late night revelry gets her in trouble with her foster mother who intends to send her back to the orphanage where she would remain until she turned twenty one (yikes!).

However, there is a solution to keep Juliette in town and that is either to adopt her or marry her. Carradine is out of the question because of his shady past and Antoine does not consider the girl to be worth marrying, however, his younger brother Michel is also interested in her and asks Juliette to marry him. Yet, can the little nymph Juliette remain faithful to Michel a man who she does not hold real feelings for?

Without going in to too much detail about more important elements of the film, the film delves into the different standards held in society for men and women. Antoine was determined to sleep with Juliette early in the film and his friends agree with him that she is not worth marrying but is worth the pursuit for sex. However, Juliette, who might be a bit more promiscuous than average women in the town is labeled a whore, etc. and when situations escalate beyond comfort level. While not a spectacular film by any means, "...and God created woman" is well worth a watch. September 1, 2007

Bardot's image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence...

The image of a nude Brigitte Bardot stretched out on her stomach, as she appeared at the very beginning of "And God Created Woman," used to create posters that sold by the thousands and helped to popularize her initials, "B.B."

The scandal she provoked launched the film and made it an unprecedented success... Her image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence, a mix she displayed in her powerful portrayal of the fascinating character in the film--a young woman, proud of her body, who ultimately rejects morality... However, this opposition to conventional behavior was more a declaration of intent than of reality... The film was actually a morality tale: the liaison of the heroine and her brother-in-law was severely criticized, and conjugal love triumphed over the other more sordid union in the end...

The controversy of "An God Created Woman" lay not so much in the actual events, but in the female character's impudence... And even if Vadim's message has become dated, it nonetheless documents a difficult period of time and the frustration that accompanied a living, breathing, sexual fantasy, an object of desire, a symbol of sexual liberty... Sex was no longer voyeurism, as it was in George Lacombe's "The Light Across the Street," (La Lumière d'en face) but instead became a reality which called for one's attention...

Seen in this way, it is incontestable that "B.B." and Vadim contributed to the liberation of sexual mores, almost presaging the Sexual Revolution...

December 28, 2006

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