In addition to her film career, actress Brigitte Bardot also had a healthy track record as a recording artist, resulting in some of the catchiest French bubblegum pop of the late '60s. As with many of the other "ye-ye girls", much of her repertoire was written and orchestrated by pop bad boy, Serge Gainsbourg. Bardot wasn't a great singer, but she sure was easy on the eyes, and a great sport, to boot. She was the only real competition Francoise Hardy had as France's most babilicious singer.
"Divine BB" (2004)
A video compilation of several late '60s collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg, most notably on the "Brigitte Bardot Show," from 1968. Almost three dozen performances in all! (With subtitles in English, Spanish and German.)
"Le Trou Normand/Crazy For Love" (1952)
"Manina, La Fille Sans Voiles/The Girl In The Bikini" (1952)
"Les Dents Longues" (1952)
"Le Portrait De Son Pere" (1953)
"Act Of Love" (1953)
"Si Versailles M'etait Conte/Versailles" (1953)
"Tradita/Night Of Love" (1954)
"Helen Of Troy" (1954)
"Le Fils De Caroline Cherie" (1954)
"Futures Vedettes/Sweet Sixteen" (1955)
"Doctor At Sea" (1955)
"Les Grandes Manoeuvres/Summer Manoeuvres" (1955)
"La Lumiere d'en Face/The Light Across The Street" (1955)
"Cette Sacree Gamine/Mam'zelle Pigalle" (1955)
"Joy Of Loving" (1955)
"Frou-Frou" (1955)
"Mio Figlio Nerone/Nero's Weekend" (1956)
"En Effeuillant La Margueritte/Mam'selle Striptease" (1956)
"Et Dieu ... Crea La Femme/And God Created Woman" (1956)
"La Mariee Est Trop Belle/The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful" (1956)
"Female" (1956)
"And God Created Woman..." (1957)
One of writer-director Roger Vadim's best film's with ur sexpot, Bridgette Bardot, this slight little comedy actually placed French cinema on the map, at least as far as Middle American was concerned. Of course, it didn't hurt to have a buxom, pouting, playful and moody beauty such as Bardot to play the camera upon, or a plot that (at the time) must have seemed scandalous and risque to the appallingly repressed denizens of the Eisenhower-era U.S. of A... The film was also beautifully shot, if a bit self-consciously geometric and formally composed, but essentially full of cinematography every bit as gorgeous as the film's star. The script is really the weak point, but not so much so that you can't or shouldn't enjoy the film. I can't see revisiting this film the way you might a true classic or a cherished favorite, but it's certainly worth checking out once, especially if you want to see what all the fuss was about with Bardot, the international sex symbol. Although the film is hardly visually or sexually explicit, she is breathtakingly sensual, and a pretty good actress as well. Plenty of films, French or otherwise, have more depth that this, but many other have much less.
"That Naughty Girl (Mam'zelle Pigalle)" (1958)
The ever-foxy Bardot stars in this slight, ineffective would-be slapstick comedy, co-directed by Roger Vadim. The plot is slapdash, and while Bardot is a total babe, we don't really get much of a chance to take in her charms... She has a kooky, carefree dance scene, and wears some goofy, garish outfits during a prolonged dream sequence, but really none of it is worth sitting through the actual film. Also of note: a bumbling, nebbish-y, mustachioed police inspector, who is continually hoodwinked by the heros, is doubtless the inspiration for Peter Sellers' infamous Inspector Clousseau. Still doesn't make this film worth watching, though.
French Music Index
French Rock Albums
