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An appreciation of Bardot as she turns 75


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Wonderful article on Brigitte Bardot on the eve of her 75th birthday: In the actual magazine there is a picture of how she looks today that isn't included on line; a pity, as she has eschewed the surgical enhancement that her peers have opted for and looks her age.

Bardot is a true screen icon - they just don't make them like that any more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/22...t-french-cinema

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Wonderful article on Brigitte Bardot on the eve of her 75th birthday: In the actual magazine there is a picture of how she looks today that isn't included on line; a pity, as she has eschewed the surgical enhancement that her peers have opted for and looks her age.

Bardot is a true screen icon - they just don't make them like that any more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/22...t-french-cinema

Bardot turning 75, Sophia Loren had her 75th last week...

Geez, I feel old... :cool:

Happy birthday to a couple of genuine 'stars'. :thumbsup:

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Thank you for the link, Mashinka. A thought-provoking article. I cannot say that either lady is a favorite star of mine – they just didn’t make enough movies I’m interested in seeing – but it’s good to read an article that places Bardot in pop history. Bardot's career took off in the late fifties, a time when things were loosening up in matters of sex but feminism hadn't raised its ugly head to spoil the menfolk's fun, and the Bardot phenomenon made mass marketable the desire of great numbers of men to have sex with very young women. I note that Bardot’s career was over by forty and her career faded with her youth – nothing exceptional there, just the usual fate of the typical female star

Before Bardot, teenagers were hidden from the public eye and from couture. Now here she was, rid of childhood's roundness, but not quite yet a woman. "On one side there were girls dressed by their mothers in blue navy skirts that they had already outgrown, with clumsy manners and chubby cheeks, and on the other side, married women. Nothing in between," continues Parrot. Nor were there magazines for teenagers or fashion for the jeunes filles. "Bardot's eruption changed all this. She created a fashion all of her own, which spread like gunpowder. And now, women across the world dress like jeune filles as long as they can!" Nabokov's Lolita was published five years later.

I see the point, but also wonder if this is such an unalloyed Good Thing. There’s nothing fun about getting older, but it used to be that it brought with it some authority, and middle-aged women who try to look like their daughters are locked in a battle they are bound to lose. Selling beauty products and fashion to young girls is good business for advertisers but not always so great for the kids. I don't really see the upside in all this for other women lacking Bardot's, uh, 'mobile contours,' but perhaps I am missing something.

I remember reading in Cynthia Powell Lennon’s first memoir that when they were first dating John had an obsession with Bardot, so Cynthia tried to please him by dyeing her hair, shortening her skirts, and wearing fishnet stockings. If making nice girls feel obligated to look cheap is liberation, then I guess we should all be grateful to Brigitte.

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There’s nothing fun about getting older, but it used to be that it brought with it some authority, and middle-aged women who try to look like their daughters are locked in a battle they are bound to lose. Selling beauty products and fashion to young girls is good business for advertisers but not always so great for the kids. I don't really see the upside in all this for other women lacking Bardot's, uh, 'mobile contours,' but perhaps I am missing something.

Oh dear me. Don't take it personally, but there is a LOT fun about getting older, I was just talking to one of my best friends about it last night. And I don't mean just getting better-lookiing. Also, adore both of these ladies, but do love term 'mobile contours' for Bardot, especially as in 'La Parisienne', because she knew how to flesh-shake just right, it was a little quicker movement than Monroe's. But that's not the only woman-look I like, dirac. Hope this doesn't sound too 'object-oriented', I think men tend to be like that whichever gender they're eyeing.

Mashinka, thanks for posting, although another friend had mentioned Bardot out of the blue yesterday, and when I saw your post, I was alarmed for a second, you know!

remember reading in Cynthia Powell Lennon’s first memoir that when they were first dating John had an obsession with Bardot, so Cynthia tried to please him by dyeing her hair, shortening her skirts, and wearing fishnet stockings. If making nice girls feel obligated to look cheap is liberation, then I guess we should all be grateful to Brigitte.

Oh well, this part I totally must dispute. Of course it's quite possible that when Cynthia imitated Bardot, it came out cheap-looking, but you know, we don't all think of one of these kinds of girls as 'nice' and the other 'cheap'. And Cynthia didn't have to do it. Clearly though, it was Brigitte's and John's fault more than Cynthia's somehow? And it's possible there are many meanings to 'liberation', no matter what the subject-to-be-liberated is.

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It is a nice line, even if it did remind me of Woody Allen’s related crack about ripening and then rotting......

Oh well, this part I totally must dispute. Of course it's quite possible that when Cynthia imitated Bardot, it came out cheap-looking, but you know, we don't all think of one of these kinds of girls as 'nice' and the other 'cheap'.

I don't think that's quite to my point (although I figured someone would choose to take my words that way, and I had second thoughts about them). I think my intended meaning is clear enough as written, so I’ll just leave it there. :smilie_mondieu:

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It would have been better to see a photo of Bardot as she looks today.

Good point. I couldn’t find one straight off, but here’s one from a few years ago. The hair is as untamed as ever. (The article accompanying the photo is interesting – I didn't know any of that.)

Bardot alienated many fans in 1992 when she married her fourth husband, Bernard D'Ormale, a member of the extreme rightwing National Front party, whose leader Jean-Marie Le Pen she described as "charming".

She has also been convicted twice of inciting racial hatred in print by criticising Muslims, firstly over their way of slaughtering sheep and then over what she described as the "Islamisation of France".

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When I was a teenager I remember the powerful impact Miss Bardot had in the UK. Constantly in the press and magazines she was a “pin up” in many a young man’s bedroom.

In Europe she had the power to attract in a way that others of that era did not.

When Dirac say’s, “I note that Bardot’s career was over by forty and her career faded with her youth – nothing exceptional there, just the usual fate of the typical female star.”

The end of Miss Bardot’s cinematic career has elsewhere been recorded as being entirely of her own choice.

I say nothing to support the notion that she helped change an already changing liberation in women’s status in the UK at her time, but she was admired by my four sisters of very different ages who found nothing phoney or about Miss Bardot and two of them imitated her less exhibitionist off-stage style of dress.

Miss Bardot made her first sortie into the cinema in 1952 (a bit part) and her last in 1973(a bit part). Altogether she appeared in some forty five films sometimes in character roles and of course in many leading roles.

The naturalness of her beauty and her manner of presenting it for some reason seemed to shock America where ordinary women ( if there is such women) appeared to be much less liberated than in Europe.

Miss Bardot is remembered warmly in Europe and the announcement of her birthday will make many recall memories.

Dirac also says, “A thought-provoking article. I cannot say that either lady is a favourite star of mine – they just didn’t make enough movies I’m interested in seeing

Likewise Sophia Loren (also 75) who appeared in nearly a hundred films is warmly remembered in Europe. I remember when a schoolboy going from singing in church to see her in the “The Boy on a Dolphin” and was amazed by her intensity (I was a sophisticated child).

Miss Loren is generally recognised as given excellent performances in a number of films. The American Film Institutes acknowledges 50 Great Screen Legends 25 men and 25 women. Miss Loren is one of them and she also won an Academy Award.

For Farrell Fan a fairly recent photograph of Miss Bardot aged 72.

If you think she looks decrepit, she has survived a serious cancer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwmacdonald/985622453/

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When Dirac say’s, “I note that Bardot’s career was over by forty and her career faded with her youth – nothing exceptional there, just the usual fate of the typical female star.”

The end of Miss Bardot’s cinematic career has elsewhere been recorded as being entirely of her own choice.

Thank you for posting, leonid. Very few actors are ‘forced’ into retirement – the pattern is that the offers begin to slow, or become less attractive. For actresses, this process generally kicks in around forty or thereabouts.

Miss Loren is generally recognised as given excellent performances in a number of films. The American Film Institutes acknowledges 50 Great Screen Legends 25 men and 25 women. Miss Loren is one of them and she also won an Academy Award.

Respectfully, leonid, I never said otherwise. I meant that Bardot and Loren don’t pop up on my personal radar screen because the foreign language movies of the era that captured my attention usually don’t feature them – I’ve seen a lot of Deneuve, Karina, Vitti, Ullmann, et al. but not much of Bardot or Loren.

The naturalness of her beauty and her manner of presenting it for some reason seemed to shock America where ordinary women ( if there is such women) appeared to be much less liberated than in Europe.

Very true – she wasn’t ‘done up’ in the manner of the time, and her hair had an impact similar to Brando’s T-shirt.

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In Britain Bardot was always referred to as the ‘sex kitten’ and was more admired for how she looked than for what she did and I wouldn’t say she ever made a film that could be described as great, in that respect she reminds me of Jayne Mansfield, another beautiful girl without a memorable film to her name. Sophia Loren got her Oscar for Two Women, a film of a mother and daughter raped in the aftermath of war – a subject most film makers never touch. It was a harrowing performance and she deserved the award, but she was also lucky to be offered the script. Both Bardot and Loren had Svengali like husbands, but whereas Vadim only celebrated his wife’s beauty, Carlo Ponti encouraged Loren the actress while at the same time creating a screen icon.

I don’t think Bardot’s retirement was because the roles dried up, more a desire for a different life amongst her beloved animals, although as noted her fierce espousal of animal rights has bought her into conflict with the authorities on a number of occasions as she is passionately opposed to the Moslem practice of slaughter which is at odds with the more humane methods practised in Europe. I read about the prosecutions at the time and feel that under the circumstances she was treated most unfairly as she has a very valid point where animal welfare is concerned.

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Thanks, Mashinka. It struck me as I was thinking about it that I could think of very few classic movies that either woman had appeared in. El Cid with Charlton Heston and Loren comes to mind - it s a visually impressive film, underrated, (and Loren is visually impressive in it - so is Heston). Two Women was good. That's about all I can think of offhand, perhaps others can name more. Given the length of Loren's career it's not much, when you think about it. Contempt is a film I go back and forth about, it's that Godard combination of good and awful.

There's more, alas:

Her latest outburst, a book called Un Cri Dans Le Silence, attacks Islam, gays, the unemployed, teachers and illegal immigrants, and calls for a return of the guillotine.She says that gays are fairground freaks, teachers arrive at work with greasy hair wearing disgusting jeans and muddy trainers, and that "the professional unemployed" don't even want to work illegally.
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I regret that I am a cynic in the matter of Bardot.

Bardot in her prime represented a powerful Idea whose time had come: perfect, ripe, juicy, uninhibited youthful female sexuality. She was marvelous to watch on screen. This attracted a number of important men in the French film industry who supported her career support ... and gave it direction. It also sold magazines and tickets.

In old age, having cut herself off from those who guided her image, she has become (or made herself into) the representative of a number of apparently contradictory Ideas: animal rights spokesperson; grumpy old right winger; anti-social self-publicist; free-thinking feminist; aging-woman-who-abjures-plastic-surgery; bigot with (on and off) a heart of gold; etc. etc. Take your pick.

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Bardot also appears briefly in "Masculin-Feminin."

Contempt is a film I go back and forth about, it's that Godard combination of good and awful.

Maybe the great and the awful. I've gone back and forth to it over the years many times since I've first seen it. It's the diamondback snake in Godard's bestiary of films according to Manny Farber, with its long tracking shots and "ping pong" pans, its "snakes and funerals" cinemascope aspect ratio. And it's got Fritz Lang and amarillo-back Casa Malaparte and the red Alfa Romeo well before "the Graduate." It's the source of Barbara Kruger's "approprated" "When I hear the word culture, I take out my checkbook."

And the Bardot part may be based on some of Moravia's ideas of Elsa Morante, and their relationship. Dirac, you must upgrade your doubts about "Contempt" a notch or two!

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Maybe the great and the awful. I've gone back and forth to it over the years many times since I've first seen it. It's the diamondback snake in Godard's bestiary of films according to Manny Farber, with its long tracking shots and "ping pong" pans, its "snakes and funerals" cinemascope aspect ratio. And it's got Fritz Lang and amarillo-back Casa Malaparte and the red Alfa Romeo well before "the Graduate." It's the source of Barbara Kruger's "approprated" "When I hear the word culture, I take out my checkbook."

And the Bardot part may be based on some of Moravia's ideas of Elsa Morante, and their relationship. Dirac, you must upgrade your doubts about "Contempt" a notch or two!

You know, Quiggin, I almost went back and changed my wording to 'great and awful' and then I didn't get around to it. You could be right about Moravia-Morante, although I always assumed that the Karina-Godard bustup was one of the subjects of Contempt. (Of course, it could be it just happened around the same time.) I thought Godard was cribbing his landscapes and aspect ratio from Antonioni, the caricature of the vulgarian American producer would have been Too Much from a hundred yards, and the best things about it were Lang and the Alfa Romeo. On the other hand, Coutard does some of his best work, and much of the film is gorgeous to look at. I need to see it again.

It didn't help that the relationship between Piccoli and Bardot reminded me of the husband and wife in the Monty Python "Marriage Counselor" sketch.

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(The article accompanying the photo is interesting – I didn't know any of that.)
Bardot alienated many fans in 1992 when she married her fourth husband, Bernard D'Ormale, a member of the extreme rightwing National Front party, whose leader Jean-Marie Le Pen she described as "charming".

She has also been convicted twice of inciting racial hatred in print by criticising Muslims, firstly over their way of slaughtering sheep and then over what she described as the "Islamisation of France".

Actually, it seems to be that Bardot's present image in France is not positive at all, especially among the generations who were born after her successful years as an actress...

As far as I know, she was convicted not twice but 5 times of incited racial hatred, and her latest book published around 2003 has been criticized quite a lot because of its homophobic comments

and some far-right opinions... And she's become so caricatural that it seems that she's more a drawback than an advantage for the animal rights movement.

Bart, I guess I share your cynicism about her (and her voice makes me cringe...)

There's such a world of difference between her interviews and those of, for example, Jeanne Moreau (now 81, still very active in cinema and theater, and such a very bright and fascinating lady :lol: )

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