Brigitte by Bardot, 1956

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In Saint Tropez, on the set of Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman, Brigitte was taking a well-earned break. She wore a white corset and a bridal veil. It was hot in the little fishing port, and the Provence sun beat down hard. Above her, a photographer had scaled the rocks to capture the moment. A handful of paparazzi had descended to take pictures of the French sex symbol. Now, she took the opportunity to strike a match and smoke a cigarette while her husband, Roger Vadim, was giving his directions for the film’s next scene. Sweat trickled down her legs. Her assistant handed her this month’s magazine, which Brigitte Bardot examined eagerly. Her looks left men dazed, and she had shaken the world with her bold, untamed beauty. A few days earlier, the photographers had taken a flurry of pictures of her. These days people called her ‘Brigitte by Bardot’, or BB to those who admired her as a goddess of modern-day beauty. She no longer knew quite who she was. She opened the magazine and perused the photos of herself as she leafed through its pages. They showed her running, going into stores, coming out of restaurants, putting on her makeup or getting her hair done, holding Roger Vadim’s hand, stepping onto a boat, or tanning on the beach. In each of them she’d had no time to think about the photograph being taken, and her expressions were wild and unrehearsed. Brigitte was Brigitte by Bardot. Still, she had come to Saint Tropez to catch her breath, and in the hopes of finding some peace. She had come to the little fishing village to escape the frenzy in Paris, hoping she could be at peace and take time to think.

                  “You’re stunning in this one!” the assistant flattered her, helping her to turn the pages of the magazine.

                  “There’s nowhere around Saint Tropez where these reporters aren’t waiting to jump out at me!” complained the actress.

                  “Well, you’re a photographer’s dream. Everyone in France loves your photos,” the assistant reassured her.

                  “Thou shalt love only the Lord your God,” sighed Brigitte.

                  “And God created woman, don’t forget!” laughed the assistant.

God created woman, and the devil invented Brigitte Bardot. As author Simone de Beauvoir wrote: “A saint would sell his soul to the devil just to watch her dance.” What wouldn’t a person give up just to see her in the flesh? Who wouldn’t sell everything they owned for BB? Brigitte was the daughter of a classical dancer, who was bitter at having been rejected by the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Never having had the chance to wear out her legs in pirouettes or unfurl her arms beneath the spotlights, Brigitte’s mother had started dreaming vicariously through her daughter, and wondering if perhaps one day, the girl might become a famous dancer. But destiny decided otherwise; people started calling Brigitte “the doll,” and she began racking up movie roles. A few years earlier, aged just 18, she had married Roger Vadim. She had been dressed in the same costume as she was today, on the set of And God created Woman, yet on that day it had been reality. Brigitte Bardot continued turning the pages. “More photos of me!” she gasped. She took a drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke through her nostrils. “Every photo is of BB,” she murmured, knowingly. She waited for her husband to finish adjusting his lenses so the shoot could resume. 

In And God Created Woman, a beautiful and sensual young woman named Juliette causes a stir in the sleepy fishing village of Saint Tropez. Three men compete for the love of the 18-year-old orphan, who thirsts for freedom and refuses to think about tomorrow. And God Created Woman unleashed a frenzy of reactions: passion, idolatry and burning desire from many, indignation, anger and hatred from others. Through cinema, Brigitte Bardot expressed her desire in the same terms as men did, and used her body to assert and claim her freedom.

Alan Alfredo Geday