"Le jeu avec le feu" [1975 France, Italy]

 

Alain Robbe-Grillet:

It has taken a while to bring up Alain Robbe-Grillet's filmography despite his obvious candidature for this site, simply because one would also need a passing knowledge of his important literary legacy that subsequently spawned his film career to do it any justice. Called the Nouveau Roman (New Novel), his avant-gardist literary works are said to have redefined the scope of modern novels not just in France, but all over the world.

By the time he penned his first film script for Alain Resnais's Nouvelle Vague masterpiece "Last Year at Marienbad", he was already a celebrated writer. Resnais's, and to some extent Antonioni's influence can readily be seen in Robbe-Grillet's first film as writer-director, "L'Immortelle", but his subsequent films began to take on a distinct identity of their own. Whatever Robbe-Grillet did in film, Jean Rollin and Jesus Franco stylistically appropriated, or at the very least drew considerable inspiration from. In return, Robbe-Grillet parodied their work along with those of mainstream stalwarts such as Claude Chabrol and Mario Bava to the extent that his later films came to be seen as a parody of parodies.

Despite all that, Alain Robbe-Grillet's core concern in all his films remained unchanged right from 'Marienbad' - it is about deconstructing the role memory plays for both his characters and the audience - whether playing a part, reading a novel or watching a film. Events are often obsessively repeated - even from the same character's point of view, not only leading to the same outcome with a different nuance, but sometimes also to variable outcomes - in short, we cannot take anything we see on screen for granted - avant-garde, for sure.

 

"Le jeu avec le feu" (1975)

Alain Robbe-Grillet's mid-career comedy "Le jeu avec le feu" [Eng. Title: Playing With Fire] can politely be described as an intensely self-aware parody. I prefer to call it a piss-take of Italian gialli. What you see in the film is not necessarily the truth, and characters are also not what they claim to be. To add to the chaos, actors return to play different characters during its run-time - perhaps this is a Freudian examination, perhaps it is reminding us that everything, like the film, is make-believe, or perhaps the characters themselves are two-faced.

The film begins with banker Georges de Saxe (Philippe Noiret) receiving a demand for ransom from a couple of visiting baddies for something they haven't achieved yet - they're yet to kidnap the banker's precious daughter Carolina (Anicée Alvina), who's still safely ensconced in her room upstairs.

In order to protect her, Georges hires detective Frantz (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who'd been telegraphed to the audience in advance as working for the kidnappers. Frantz suggests housing Carolina for her own protection at a place the kidnappers would least bother to look - a high-class brothel run by Erica von Eigher (Martine Jouot). He introduces the place to an innocent Carolina as some kind of a 'clinic' for women suffering from 'exhaustion'.

We can easily see where this plot is heading from here, but then again, we may not. Whatever the case, it wouldn't matter. For most of its duration, the film is an unbridled indulgence in fantasised masochism, a pastime Robbe-Grillet had never hidden or apologised for throughout his personal life. We see thugs bundle away in public view young maidens from night clubs, morning jogs, and even from wedding ceremonies. As Carolina strolls through doors in Erica's mansion to discover torrid happenings à la Alice in Wonderland, the film teases the audience through Carolina's implied and faux sexual awakening. It gets ridiculous towards the end to such an extent that a character even complains to camera that the typist girl had messed up the film's script sequence..!

What is noteworthy however is the straight face with which some of the biggest stars in French cinema play their respective mixed-up roles - they surely relished their outing here. The set designs and shot compositions are done with the greatest care and attention to detail that for a moment, you might think you're watching a Visconti or Bergman. I'm sure the highbrow art circles weren't particularly amused when they had to write about it, but perhaps that's what also endears me to this film. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr 9 DVD Box-set [PAL]
Contains the complete directorial filmography of Alain Robbe-Grillet in restored print - a bargain any way you look at it.

 

The Nudity: Anicée Alvina, Christine Boisson, Nathalie Zeiger, Joëlle Coeur, Sylvia Kristel, and Maranha
Considering the abundance of female nudity in the film, I felt it appropriate to categorise them into three sections dealing with abductions, exploitation, and Anicée Alvina.

 

1) G.I.M.P (Girls in merciless peril)
Even though I'm not the greatest fan of the above film phenomenon, the absurd situations against which they happen in this particular film make the scenes, well - almost charming. Featuring Nathalie Zeiger (girl chased by a dog in the park), Joëlle Coeur (bride), Sylvia Kristel (girl in night club), and Maranha (night club singer), the star of this section is undoubtedly a nineteen year old, alluring, and randomly 'manhandled' Christine Boisson who's initially whisked off by hoodlums when she's about to board a train. She's not too happy when they decide to release her after realising that her parents were having financial difficulties. She's particularly peeved at having to leave the mansion a virgin and even threatens to return with her school friends to trash the place. :-)



 

2) Sadomasochism
Okay, that's applying it with a very broad brush, but the import is the same. Featuring Christine Boisson, Nathalie Zeiger, Sylvia Kristel, and Maranha, this is about Carolina's walk through Erica's 'clinic' where abductees are subjected to all sorts of humiliation, with an instance of Nathalie Zeiger's character also bordering on bestiality. Christine Boisson's character is forced to play Desdemona (well, that can be harrowing) against Philippe Noiret's shoe polished Othello. There are also implied references to necrophilia and cannibalism.



 

3) Anicée Alvina
It's a shame that this Iranian French beauty passed on too early for her age, but she'd left behind, thanks in no small measure to Alain Robbe-Grillet, some memorable scenes at her youthful best. Even though she doesn't feature in any sexual scenes, some are disconcerting nevertheless, in that her character is groped by the father on more than one occasion. In one scene, he (as some other character) bathes and puts her to sleep as one would a child. Her character is 'punished' later on by the same 'father-like' figure for trying to escape from the mansion.



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A film review: "Le mouton enragé" [1974 France]

Michel Deville had been a pleasant mainstream alternative to the typically highbrow intellectualism of the Nouvelle Vague exponents when it came to cinema during the sixties and seventies; his storytelling was conventional, and on the other end of the scale, his humour and satire was gentler in comparison to the likes of Bertrand Blier. His comedy "Le mouton enragé" [Eng. Title: Love at the Top] came out around the same time as Blier's more notorious "Les valseuses", and while both of them were a satire on modern society, the former is distinctly more 'humane', notwithstanding the killing of some of its main characters during the course of the film.













The film begins with a normally shy bank clerk Nicolas (Jean-Louis Trintignant) unexpectedly chatting up a young woman by the river - he'd never done that before, only to discover on his date the next day that she's a prostitute. But determined to score nevertheless, he forces the woman, Marie-Paule (Jane Birkin), into feigning genuine sexual interest in him. He even decides not to pay her after having sex!

Despite that, Marie-Paule strangely takes to the guy and soon enough, they become friends, and partners in crime when it came to cynical manipulation of wealthy victims in their quest for social mobility, thanks to the urging and scheming of his disenchanted best friend Claude (Jean-Pierre Cassel). Claude, unlucky in love, and too bad a writer to get his work published, feels he has finally struck upon new material for a new book, proving that one could transform an average achiever such as Nicolas into a success story, both in terms of seducing women and gaining social status.

After convincing Nicolas to quit his bank job, Claude assigns him the task of seducing Roberte (Romy Schneider), the beautiful and lonely young wife of an ageing academic. Following Nicolas' successful conquest, the unsuspecting Roberte falls truly in love with him, and will grow increasingly reckless in hiding her affair from her husband. In the process, new contacts open up for the ever non-committal Nicolas, to network and exploit.

Nicolas ignores Claude's advise to move on from Marie-Paule, and instead uses her as bait to build links with a well-connected businessman. She willingly obliges, and before long, she marries him and becomes heiress to his fortune, whilst carrying on her fun and games with Nicolas in secret. Together, they ruthlessly work their way to the top of the social ladder and respectability, whilst paying scant attention to their conscience...

Deville wryly pokes fun at a selfish society where success is unscrupulously pursued, and even with best of intentions, morality is set aside during the process. The film is hurriedly paced giving little time for self-reflection, and much like Blier's "Le valseuses" and Chabrol's "Les innocents aux mains sales", doesn't flinch in showing us the shameless side of modern society. Even if it looks a bit dated now, the film is reasonably well-made, and  Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Jane Birkin, Romy Schneider, Betty Berr, Florinda Bolkan, and Christine Boisson
The main reason to feature the film here is the relatively short but memorable, almost iconic, nude scenes featuring an adolescent looking Jane Birkin. Romy Schneider, despite only brief nudity in her scenes, is at her most beautiful, and an elegant Florinda Bolkan dazzles, even if she gets nude only for the exclusive eyes of Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene. There is also a short nude streak from a very young (and uncredited) Christine Boisson to watch out for.



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Futura X-tra bold - Gaspar Noé's "LOVE" [2015 France, Belgium]

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"My biggest dream in life is to make a movie that truly depicts sentimental sexuality. Why - why haven't we seen this in cinema yet!", exclaims Murphy. Having made his mark as an uncompromising filmmaker who worked on exceptionally difficult themes such as in "I Stand Alone" and "Irreversible", it is apparent that through yet another extra bold no-nonsense experiment, this time X-rated, Gaspar Noé had finally managed to make his and his main character Murphy's dream come true in "LOVE".












At first glance, 'Love' might seem an uncharacteristic title for a Gaspar Noé film, especially since all of his films so far have been centred around love, often to the point of obsession. Was he perhaps a bit too conscious of the fact that the film could otherwise be mistaken for 'porn' - and let's face it, there will always be many who will call it so, no matter how many convincing arguments to the contrary are put forward, or was it a sincere attempt at exploring the fact that through all the ages, sex had very often played a dominant part in early stages of a love relationship?

Loving couples, especially the young ones have sex, and if situations permit, focus considerable energies towards the endeavour than those who aren't. If a film decides not to depict the sexual aspect of a couple's relationship, it is perhaps because it has other things to say. But if the focus of a film is love itself, there is a valid reason to show scenes of a sexual nature. There is far more sex depicted in "Love" than in other mainstream films, to the extent that they soon loose their novelty value and we get immersed in the narrative. But what crucially sets it apart from most other 'love' films, is that the actors here are doing it for real (von Trier, who once took Dogme to new heights, should respectfully take note, despite the fact that Noé and Dogme are as distinguishable as apples and oranges).

 

Storyline:
A simple storyline by Noé's standards, the film focuses on the highs and lows of an intense relationship between aspiring filmmaker Murphy (Karl Glusman) and budding artist Electra (Aomi Muyock), while they were in college. The film starts with Murphy, now living with Omi (Klara Kristin) and father to a child, receiving a voicemail from Electra's mum worried about her daughter's whereabouts. This kick starts a back story, mostly told through flashback in a nonlinear but nonetheless comprehensible fashion, of Murphy's passionate and deeply affecting love affair with Electra. We learn about the way Omi entered their lives, and how the couple parted ways.

Despite the uncharted territory, Noé's trademark is stamped all over the film. There are subtle references to some of his earlier work, whether through props, characters, or locations - Noé also appears in a couple of scenes as Electra's ex boyfriend. In terms of performances, the actors are bold and sincere to their characters, and to go all the way - I mean, a l l   t h e   w a y, right to the 'finish' in the numerous sex scenes, requires something of a pioneering spirit. Apart from their performances, it is perhaps also due to the actors' physical intimacy that their characters come 'alive'. Having said that, the weakest among the three protagonists has to be that of Glusman's due to his unmistakeable Hollywood-style delivery which unfortunately takes away from his otherwise impressive performance.

Visually, the film is as sumptuous as any Gaspar Noé film - there is a great deal of attention to lighting, detail and the cinematography in general (the quivering lights and disorientating sounds are thankfully kept to a minimum), even if the viewer might be hard pressed to appreciate the need for shooting the film in 3D, apart from a single, albeit memorable shot. One of the coolest tricks Noé uses in the film is the insertion of blank frames between and sometimes even during the scenes, much like mimicking the way our own memory darts from one detail to the next when remembering the past. It is a great feeling to see that Gaspar Noé, having already achieved what most filmmakers can only dream of in a lifetime, still hasn't lost any of the edgy and brutal forthrightness for which he's infamous; he has once again shown the middle finger to critics and the unwritten rules of the film making establishment. Bravo!, and Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [NTSC] | Amazon DVD Link [PAL] | Amazon Blu-Ray Link [2D & 3D]
About the DVD: Strangely, the Artificial Eye DVD sold at Amazon is actually NTSC, even though it is advertised as PAL. I had to buy a second, PAL version from Amazon.fr, which by the way also featured an interview with Gaspar Noé and some extended (deleted) scenes, not included in the AE release.

 

The Nudity: Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin, Déborah Revy, Stella Rocha, and others
The film features explicit scenes of sex and nudity, but whether it is pornographic in nature is a matter of individual opinion. For me, it doesn't qualify as porn simply because no extraneous efforts were made to focus exclusively on anatomical details during sex acts, whether in shot selection or lighting; we just happen to watch them fucking. The highlight for heterosexual men will most likely include the threesome featuring Glusman, Muyock, and Kristin - the only thing missing from a typical 'mainstream' porn sequence here is the girls simultaneously giving head to the guy until he finishes - oh, but then the film could get classified as 'porno', right? Perhaps..! :-)



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A brief review: "Le mentor" [2012 France]

Veteran director Jean-Pierre Mocky started off as an actor and started making films by himself from the early sixties. Some of his films even find pride of place in the canon of world cinema. However, Mocky defies categorisation because he has dipped into almost every genre there is - and has written, produced, and acted in many of them. A non-conformist, he could be sublime and also eye-poppingly careless in the same film, but despite the occasional forgettable film showing up in his credits, he has maintained a loyal following among art-film fans.

I'll start his filmography with one of his recent films, "Le mentor" (The Mentor), a contemporary comedy slightly out-of-touch with present times. The plot is naive perhaps, but it's charming nevertheless, and pleasant to watch. He also plays the film's lead character.

Businessman Ludovic (Jean-Pierre Mocky) becomes bankrupt thanks partly to a messy divorce. Living on the streets and getting by through questionable resourcefulness - he's now a con artiste and cheat extraordinaire, he overhears a conversation between lovers Christian (Clovis Fouin) and Annette (Solène Hebert), and figures out instantly that the man is anything but progressive and will make a terrible partner.

Ludovic decides to 'rescue' Annette from her relationship by becoming her mentor. Learning that she's looking for a job, he dupes her into applying for a fictitious job offer, and calls her for an interview in a friend's office after closing hours.

 

It doesn't take long for Annette to identify Ludovic for the pauper that he his, but accepts him for his charming ways and kindness towards her. Besides, he finds her a 'real' job through an acquaintance, and also plays cupid to get herself a new boyfriend. Annette too readily joins 'papa' in his various hustles, and all ends well...

This might be light entertainment with lots of credibility issues, production goofs and technical mistakes, but it is also a film that's charming enough that you'll momentarily forget its imperfections. As a bonus, the camera is in love with the very French, very easy-on-the-eye Solène Hebert - and the charismatic young newcomer can also act. At least for these reasons, the film is Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Solène Hebert, Bettina Kox, Daphnée Lecerf, and Anksa Kara
There's frontal nudity from Solène Hebert when her character surprises Ludovic by stepping into the room naked. In another scene, we see three female customers in a spa where the never-say-die Ludovic tries his hands, as a masseur.




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"Language, isn't working!" - Adieu au langage [2014, France]

Jean-Luc Godard thinks so, among many other things as he usually does, in his latest cinematic dissection titled "Adieu au langage" [Eng. Title: Goodbye to Language]. If anyone thought the Nouvelle Vague was long dead, they certainly ought to have a word with this man before mouthing their verdict.












Ever the path-breaking maverick, Godard's latest film is proof enough that the octogenarian still has something to say about cinema. While it invests itself in a sociological theme, the film also 'visually' questions several unwritten golden rules concerning cinema as a medium. So much so that the very need for words and dialogues (read 'language') is often portrayed as being more or less redundant. You can therefore comfortably ignore a good chunk of the dialogues in the film.

Godard had done these before - deliberately cutting off sound during conversations, confusing viewers through sound effects, distorting time and flow with stop-slow motion - effectively challenging audience to de-construct what they hear and see. He now upgrades these ideas to cover present technology and digital media. The film is meant to be watched in 3D, and whilst I didn't quite oblige, one could pretty much see what he was trying to achieve, because it works to some extent in 2D as well - it draws you out of your comfort zone by distorting shape and form. This is Godard playing with cinema, like a kid breaking a toy apart and putting pieces back together.

Of course, he has some serious things to say as well in the process, like highlighting the lack of communication among people in modern relationships - "Soon everyone will need an interpreter, to understand the words coming out of their very own mouth", opines one of the central characters during a passage of play.

Apparently language isn't needed for love to flourish - Godard even considers it a hindrance, and anecdotally explains how a dog, without any structured language, succeeds in loving its master more than it does itself. Love is what we need, and love doesn't require language - that's the message, and as if to drive home the point, Godard ends his film with a dog responding to the babbling voice of an infant...

The audacious film-making is reflected in its choice of shooting equipment and post-processing as well - shot entirely in digital using no less than six different formats and frame rates, scenes are saturated to extreme levels to the extent that they appear at times to be deliberately degraded, which together with the swivelling camera movements, impart a degree of vicarious immediacy by mimicking personal videos made using a camera phone, echoing the narcissistic society that we live in. That much I gathered in my first two viewings, and I suspect there could be more to follow. Even at a short seventy minute runtime, the film is testing - who said Godard was easy! But if you're looking for something intellectually challenging over the festive period, this film might just do the trick. For them at least, it is certainly Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr DVD Link [PAL] | Amazon.fr Blu-ray Link [3D]

 

The Nudity: Héloise Godet, Kamel Abdeli, Zoé Bruneau, and Richard Chevallier
We follow two couples going about their breakup over a series of montages, and during the instances when they're talking but not actually communicating, we see them depicted in the nude. The scenes are also interspersed with found/stock footage of sexual acts, none of which are titillating - unless you can get past those toilet noises. :-)

Seasons Greetings!

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Early Brigitte Bardot: A tribute

Brigitte Bardot has just turned 80 today (28th September), and as a birthday tribute to one of the iconic film personalities of the twentieth century, I want to briefly highlight some of her early filmography that's relevant to this blog, in order of preference. Three of the four featured here are not only remarkable films in their own right, but they also showcase her versatility as an actress and her persona as the quintessential sex symbol. They offer a window into what it must feel like to be a Brigitte Bardot - forever being selectively judged by the world with regard to her character, morals, and beauty. They give a fascinating insight into Bardot the person herself. Another thing common with the three films, and a hidden agenda behind the choice, is Brigitte Bardot dancing the cha-cha-cha..!

1. "La vérité" [1960, France, Italy]

When we talk of Henri-Georges Clouzot as director, we're talking about 'classic' French cinema, of the pre Nouvelle Vague era. His absorbing courtroom drama "La Vérité" [Eng. Title: The Truth] literally places Brigitte Bardot on the dock and questions her morality and candid sensuality.








Accused of murdering her former lover, Dominique's (Brigitte Bardot) past is laid bare in an open court and mercilessly examined by a prosecuting lawyer. In claiming that Gilbert's (Sami Frey) murder had everything to do with his recent engagement to her sister Annie (Marie-José Nat), the lawyer attempts to paint Dominique as an evil-minded, selfish woman with loose morals and few scruples.

Free-spirited Dominique, after several procrastinations and a suicide-attempt, is allowed by parents to move to Paris and live with his music student-sister. Education doesn't interest her, but the city and its youth culture does, and so Dominique wastes little time in getting acquainted with young men congregating in a latin café. She moves out of her sister's apartment and lives alongside her new friends, sometimes having sex with them.

Dominique expresses her sexual freedom through various casual encounters, and while initially shocked by her frankness and appetite for sex, Gilbert, Annie's friend from college, will find her fascinating, and he'll soon also become obsessed with her. He must have her, and to this end he pursues her despite knowing that she finds him boring at times. He will declare his love for her even after being told that she was with another guy only moments earlier. His perseverance will pay off, and Dominique too will begin to fall in love with him.

Having 'scored' finally, Gilbert tries to take control of her life - teach her culture, good taste in music, and so on, but Dominique, despite some futile attempts, will find it hard to reconcile her love for him with her own needs, and often ends up being unfaithful to him. They inevitably break-up, and Dominique, suddenly left homeless and jobless after her flatmate leaves to the US, takes up prostitution to survive. She's still in love with Gilbert, but he'd by now settled for a career in music, and the virginal Annie...

The drama makes a passionate plea for a woman's right to live the way she wants to and not be judged, and also questions men's desire to control them. Dominique had unwittingly become a victim of her own strengths - her beauty and sensuality, by being hounded by men seeking her as a trophy to behold and a free spirit to subdue, while all she ever wanted was the freedom to be her own self, and be loved. But the world refuses to see it that way - according to them, she's a loose woman who must be taught lessons on how to behave in a 'respectable' society. Brigitte Bardot's finest on-screen performance is made all the more poignant due to the uncanny resemblance of her celebrity-image to that of her character. Directed impeccably by Clouzot, the film blends neo-realism with a dash of glamour. The film is naturally Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Brigitte Bardot and Barbara Sommers
Three scenes feature brief nudity from a calendar-perfect Brigitte Bardot, one of these is a fine example of a beautiful nude derrière dancing the cha-cha-cha. In a memorable scene which would've given young men sleepless nights at the time, she performs the same while lying in bed with nothing but a white sheet covering her naked body. It begs the question - why are such (dancing nude) scenes so rare to see nowadays..?



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2. "En cas de malheur" [1958, France, Italy]

Claude Autant-Lara is yet another legendary name in classic French cinema. He presided over both the formative and innovative years of his country's film industry, and has always been a versatile and highly gifted director. His stirring romantic melodrama "En cas de malheur" [Eng. Title: In Case of Adversity (UK), Love Is My Profession (USA)] is again crime-of-passion-themed, and stars a fabulously beautiful Brigitte Bardot alongside superstar Jean Gabin, a combination that in no small way also helped making the film's controversial subject more palatable.








The film begins with a bungled robbery at a jeweller's by prostitutes Yvette (Brigitte Bardot) and Noémie (Annick Allières) - the jeweller's wife is seriously injured during their getaway. Yvette approaches renowned lawyer André (Jean Gabin) and begs him to defend her, and because she couldn't afford the fee for his services, offers in return her own, in exchange.


A married and hitherto faithful André helps her out of pity and even gets her acquitted, but is smitten by her beauty nevertheless. Yvette will become his willing mistress, with full-knowledge of his tolerant and remarkably perceptive wife, He will even buy an apartment to house her in, and allows her to live as she pleased with no questions asked, provided she spares some time for him in return. He doesn't expect her to be faithful, but demands that she henceforth stop prostituting herself, sell drugs, or get drunk.

Their arrangement works for a while, until Yvette's boyfriend Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi) enters her life again. There is after all only so much that an ever-busy and middle-aged André can offer her in terms of excitement, and Yvette and Mazzetti quickly catch up with the times they were apart. But Mazzetti, prone to bouts of violent temper, will want to have Yvette all to himself, and would go to extraordinary lengths to pull her away from André's influence. Yvette, whilst trying to escape his tyrannical ways, will nevertheless be drawn back to him, with devastating consequences...

Well written, and exceptionally performed by all the main actors, particularly Jean Gabin, the film oozes class and wit - it is not as well known as Bardot's other films, but it is a hidden gem waiting to be rediscovered. You won't be disappointed and the film is definitely Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Brigitte Bardot
Two brief scenes feature nudity from Brigitte Bardot - even by her own yardstick of beauty, this film significantly raises the bar - she is 'the' quintessential femme fatale, and 'the' celestial creature. What I meant to say is - she couldn't possibly have been more stunning than she's in this film. The lighting, the angles, and the composition lends her a charisma that would've forced you to forgive her even if she were to commit the gravest of crimes. Forget about nudity - watching her clothed is sensational enough..!

3. "Et Dieu... créa la femme" [1956, France, Italy]

Brigitte Bardot was his wife and also the first-billed star in Roger Vadim's torrid romance drama "Et Dieu... créa la femme" [Eng. Title: ...And God Created Woman]. The Eastmancolor spectacular would've been far less sympathetic to Brigiite Bardot's character, had it not been for her convincing and persuasive performance.






Juliete (Brigitte Bardot), an eighteen year old orphan living with her foster parents in a fishing village (pre-tourism St. Tropez), is self-absorbed and already sexually active, much to her mother's disapproval. Middle-aged businessman Eric (Curd Jürgens) is just one of the many men who covet her. But she'd set her eyes elsewhere, on the hunky  Antoine. However, Antoine only wants to bed her and doesn't quite consider her as girlfriend-material. He leaves her stranded at the bus stop after promising to take her away with him.

Juliete now has just one choice - she could either go back to her orphanage after her foster parents complained to authorities about her bringing their house into disrepute, or she could avoid it by finding herself a man to marry. Antoine's younger brother Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant), who had always fancied her, steps in with an offer of marriage, and despite the priest's explicit advice against it, they tie the knot.

Michel allows her to remain the free spirit that she was because he accepts and loves her the way she is, and Juliete too responds by loving him in return. But when Antoine returns back to the village to manage their newly merged shipyard, things become complicated, and Juliete begins to lust after him once again. Despite her being his sister-in-law, Antoine wastes no opportunity in having his way with her, and to make matters worse, also tells his mother and brother what he did to her.

The film became controversial because Vadim had used Juliete's promiscuity to directly challenge the culture of philandering and misogyny among men. Juliete's desire to live the way she wants is also a bold feminist statement for its time - years before the sexual revolution took off. At least in the raw physical manner of its presentation, it is a ground-breaking film - and it is to Ms. Bardot's credit that her not-so-endearing screen character is elevated to a crusader demanding equal sexual space to that of men. She may be the epitome of sensuality - her sexual appetite only matched by her indulgence and selfishness, but she also has a positive side; her kindness towards animals, and her genuine regret of loosing judgement for a fleeting moment of sexual pleasure. The drama reaches a crescendo with a Bardot dancing cha-cha-cha in seemingly gay abandon for a rehearsing Cuban jazz band as an exasperated Michel helplessly watches; the long scene's worth the ticket value in itself. But the film unfortunately does also compromise some of its integrity towards the end, either with an eye on the box office, or for placating the censors. A sign of its times - I guess, but it is still, Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon Blu-ray Link

 

The Nudity: Brigitte Bardot
The film features two brief flashes of nudity from Brigitte Bardot - and for the first time in colour. There's also one scene featuring concealed nudity when her character emerges from the sea, soaked to the bone and determined to 'have' Antoine.



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4. Manina, la fille sans voiles [1952, France]

Willy Rozier's listless romance "Manina, la fille sans voiles" [Eng. Title: The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter (UK), The Girl in the Bikini (USA)] is the most underwhelming film of the four listed here. The only reason for it featuring in my list is because it is also the first instance of film nudity from Brigitte Bardot, in what was also among her very first films.

 





Manina (Brigitte Bardot), who lives in a lighthouse with her parents in a desolate Corsican island, is befriended by diving enthusiast and Parisian college student Gérard (Howard Vernon). He discovers an ancient artefact in the seabed which he'll later learn to have probably belonged in part to a legendary sunken treasure. He goes back after five years and tries to locate the rest of the bounty with the help of a cigarette smuggler, and falls for a now all grown up and mostly bikini-clad Manina. He finds the treasure and loses it to the smuggler, but all ends well because he'd at the least had an adventure and got himself a pretty girl.

It is a poorly directed film with some surprisingly mediocre acting, choppy editing, and a monotonous mandolin incessantly twanging away in the background (and some crunching noises that shouldn't have been there in the first place). But Bardot, all of eighteen, is at her adorable innocent best here - her face is yet that of a child, and there wouldn't have been any hint of sensuality were it not for her fully grown breasts. It's safe to assume that the only reason the film ever made it to DVD was Brigitte Bardot. She displays her budding talents with whatever little scope she's offered, and that includes her sweet singing voice getting an airing.

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Brigitte Bardot
My DVD is an NTSC edition, and as far as I'm aware, there is only brief partial nudity in the film when a sunbathing Manina is disturbed by the bad guy. It must've yet caused a sensation because nudity in any form was quite uncommon those days.



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