Her hair was unkempt and her skirts were cut to the waist, but the mambo dance that Brigitte Bardot performed in “And God Created Woman” became an overnight sensation in the 1950s.
Bardot created a “sex kitten” myth that angered French censors.
This scene, both innocent and provocative, was symbolic of an impending sexual revolution. This was a Bardot, who died aged 91, never despaired, nor did she really try to.
Filmed in 1956 in Saint-Tropez, which later became his home and refuge, “And God Created Woman” remains one of his great cinema memories.
Saint-Tropez was then “an authentic village still far from the maddening crowds, full of charm, fishermen and Southern accents,” he told AFP in an interview marking the 60th anniversary of Roger Vadim’s film.
She said she hated it when filming ended and she separated from Vadim, who had become the first of her four husbands four years earlier.
In her feverish mambo, Bardot, playing the carefree teenager Juliette, captivates three potential suitors played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christian Marquand and Kurt Jürgens.
For the first time in French cinema, a woman expressed her desire on an equal footing with a man.
The moral warriors were outraged and the censors ordered some suggestive scenes, including oral sex performed on a woman, to be cut.
But “Bibi”, as she became known in her home country, became a role model for many French women.
– ‘Don’t care’ –
According to Vadim, in real life, Bardot displayed the same independence in public as Juliette, “a girl of her time, free from all feelings of guilt, from all the taboos imposed by society”.
Historian of feminism Françoise Picque said, “With her independent character and her freedom over her body, she spoke to the women of that era. Bibi was one of the powerful symbols of a desire to shake things up in an era of austerity.”
Sixty years after the release of “And God Created Woman”, Bardot was still astonished by the scandal it created.
“It was funny because, at the end of the day, there’s nothing shocking about it,” he said.
“The mambo dancing I did was completely improvised. I gave free rein to my instincts. I danced as I felt, hypnotized by the music, that’s all!”
But Bardot, who was later criticized by some for her far-right views and punished in court five times for her comments, said she did not want to advocate the women’s liberation that the film had helped inspire.
“I don’t care about it,” she said in a 2016 interview.
Protecting animals, his passion in later life, was far more important.
Bardot criticized the #MeToo campaign in 2018, denouncing the abuse of women.
“Feminism is not my cup of tea,” she told AFP in another interview earlier this year, defending French actor Gerard Depardieu before a court found him guilty of sexual assault.
– ‘A wonderful way to break up’ –
“I’ve never been a complex thinker and I loved this role that was written specifically for me,” she said in a 2016 interview.
The BB phenomenon that the film spawned “hit me like a ton of bricks!” He declared that he had never expected success.
Vadim said that he allowed Bardot “with her flaws and her virtues, to play a character that was not exactly her own, but very true to her nature.”
She said of the director, “I found Vadim extremely handsome, but I never thought he would fall in love with me.” “Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned with her.”
But “And God Made Woman” marked the beginning of the end of their relationship.
The couple divorced on December 6, 1957, a year after the film’s release.
During filming, Bardot fell in love with Trintignant.
Vadim said, “The film was our artistic child. It was a great way to break up.”
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