...And God Created Woman - Criterion Collection

Starring:Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Ciron, Isabelle Corey, Paul Faivre, Leopoldo FrancÃ©s, Marie Glory, Philippe Grenier, Curd JÃ¼rgens, Jean Lefebvre, Raoul LÃ©vy, Jane Marken, Christian Marquand, Jany Mourey, Georges Poujouly, Jean Tissier, Jean Toscano, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacqueline Ventura, Claude VÃ©ga
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Roger Vadim's directorial debut is more titillation than continental cool, but it broke box-office records and censorship taboos in its teasing display of sex and eroticism in the sunny vacation playground of the Saint-Tropez seashore. Vadim ushered in the era of continental attitudes toward sex and christened the voluptuous Brigitte Bardot (his wife) the world's original sex kitten: earthy, innocent, and all fleshy curves. Bardot is Juliette, a pouty child-woman orphan prone to nude sunbathing and playful flirting. Though pursued by a rich widower (Curt Jurgens) and attracted to the brawny fisherman Antoine (Christian Marquand), she marries Antoine's shy younger brother Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant), an earnest, innocent kid hardly older than she but far less worldly. Despite her sincere efforts to "be good," Juliette gives in to Michel's advances, setting off a chain of events that ends in fraternal conflict. Vadim keeps the display of skin this side of an R rating, but only barely, teasing the male audience with skimpy outfits, barely concealing sheets, and often conveniently arranged scenery. Bohemian Bardot frolics through the film with nary a self-conscious moment, culminating in a passionate mambo, her pent-up frustration and sexual confusion exploding in a mad dance as bongos pound away on the soundtrack. Who needed Viagra in the '50s when Bardot was around? --Sean Axmaker

Description

The astounding success of Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman revolutionized the foreign film market and turned Brigitte Bardot into an international star. Bardot stars as Juliette, an 18-year-old orphan whose unbridled appetite for pleasure shakes up all of St. Tropez; her sweet but naïve husband Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant) endures beatings, insults, and mambo in his attempts to tame her wild ways. Criterion presents this milestone of cinematic naughtiness in a stunning new 16x9 Eastmancolor transfer, supervised by the late director.

Customer Reviews:

Bardot's image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence..........2006-12-28

The image of a nude Brigitte Bardot stretched out on her stomach, as she appeared at the very beginning of "And God Created Woman," used to create posters that sold by the thousands and helped to popularize her initials, "B.B."

The scandal she provoked launched the film and made it an unprecedented success... Her image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence, a mix she displayed in her powerful portrayal of the fascinating character in the film--a young woman, proud of her body, who ultimately rejects morality... However, this opposition to conventional behavior was more a declaration of intent than of reality... The film was actually a morality tale: the liaison of the heroine and her brother-in-law was severely criticized, and conjugal love triumphed over the other more sordid union in the end...

The controversy of "An God Created Woman" lay not so much in the actual events, but in the female character's impudence... And even if Vadim's message has become dated, it nonetheless documents a difficult period of time and the frustration that accompanied a living, breathing, sexual fantasy, an object of desire, a symbol of sexual liberty... Sex was no longer voyeurism, as it was in George Lacombe's "The Light Across the Street," (La Lumière d'en face) but instead became a reality which called for one's attention...

Seen in this way, it is incontestable that "B.B." and Vadim contributed to the liberation of sexual mores, almost presaging the Sexual Revolution...

surprisingly not good.......2006-12-04

was SO excited to finally see the myth known as Bardot and the movie that made her famous for that myth. but it turned out too be a big yawn. the movie is actually boring, and you can understand the plot, but it is still incomprehensible. and not b/c it is in french with subtitle (i actually prefer it that way; i like to hear french). it's like Vadim tried to hard with twists and turns; he tried to make an average story something greater. there is no great, stand out acting. and even though BB is sort of known for being "lazy", the actors in it seemed bored with the movie them self. like they didn't want to act. they and BB were lethargic. it felt like they were improvising or rehearsing, instead of actually acting. there is too much worthless dialogue, no action. i still love bardot probably because of her fashion, beauty, etc, but i don't see why there was a commotion over her from a celluloid point of view (maybe there is another movie that captures her sex-kitten essence; i don't think this is the movie), shes not very great in it. she is just an average girl who pouts. there's not a wonderful, distinct persona, how you have with Marilyn Monroe. it was a long, mundane movie and i found myself falling asleep. i was very disappointed. it did not hold my attention. haven't watched it again. i was also shocked that even though BB looks great in it, she still couldn't keep me awake.

Enjoyable, and worth watching for more than Bardot........2006-04-04

I saw this recently on a lark just to see what all the Brigitte Bardot fuss was about -- and wasn't expecting much since sex comedy farces (particularly French ones) aren't high on my film watch lists -- but was surprised at how good (and good-natured) it was. Besides the vivacious charms of Ms. Bardot, this film had a solid script and good acting and dialogs. (One of my favorite lines had Bardot replying to a query why a family won't sell its puny shipyard to the effect that they want to at least still *own* something to not to feel poor.) The story is not highbrow, but is far from being lowbrow and tawdry and exploitative as some newcomers (like me) might perceive from its notorious reputation. Bardot plays Juliette, the "town tramp" of St. Tropez who is pursued by a rich, elderly playboy while carrying the torch for Antonio, an impecunious shipwright who treats her just as a convenient one-night-stand. In comes Antonio's younger brother, Michele, who truly loves her and offers to marry her to save her from being sent back to the orphanage. Juliette marries Michele and comes to love him despite herself, while fighting against her reckless, impetuous nature as Antonio comes back into the scene and presents a constant temptation. Will love or lust wins out? Call me old-fashioned, but I liked how the movie ends, and I agree with another Amazon reviewer's analysis (Robert Cartland), which hits it square on the head. (BTW, the video transfer for this Criterion DVD edition is excellent, eliminating all the old flaws while preserving the warm, vibrant colors of the St. Tropez location to great effect.)

The Sex Kitten is Born.......2005-12-26

If you've never watched any of Bardot's movies, I'd say this would be the best place to start. It displays Brigitte at the height of her beauty and is the perfect vehicle to show case her unbridled, breathtaking sensuality. Though the plot is thin and the sex scenes and nudity(which are actually more in the viewers imagination than on screen),are very tame and modest by today's standards, you can see why Bardot would have been ahead of her time and why she became a screen icon and legend.In a sense she was the original example of the sexually liberated woman,living by her own laws of sensuality and freedom. Along with that you can't take your eyes of her, she is a goddess incarnate and what she lacks in acting ability, she makes up for in charm and natural screen presence. Brigitte's 'Juliette' character, a teenaged orphan forced into a marriage of convenience, is childishly irresponsible,sulky,untamed and larger than life. But then I find a lot of French movies like to portray their woman as pouting, rebellious, reckless man eaters. Bardot was the original sex kitten however, with her tousled mane, luscious pout, gorgeous shapely figure, and careless sexy walk, she spawned a generation of imitators; her style still evident more than ever in today's starlets, who can't hold a candle to her. Director Roger Vadim makes good use of beautiful and unspoiled St Tropez as a backdrop, but it is his stunning,shapely young 'Mrs' who carries this film.I doubt if it would have got a second look without her presence.
Athough Curt Jurgens adds a little class and Christian Marquand is good to look at, the male characters in the film are quite dull and unlikeable, and Bardot outshines all of them as she continued to do through her 20 or so year career of mediocre movies.

Bardolatry at its finest!.......2005-12-23

This is the film that made Brigitte Bardot a legend. I have to admit: I have tried to look at this film objectively and I find it alternately demeaning, silly, and just plain dumb. So how come I'm giving it five stars? One word: Bardot. If you were to assemble a dictionary that would use visuals to illustrate the various words, Bardot's mambo sequence would authoritatively define the word "sensual." With the pulsating sound of the bongos in the background punctuated by blaring horns, Brigitte is larger than life dancing from room to room like a woman possessed. This may not be acting but it sure holds your attention - kind of like watching a human being transform into a wild animal. This sequence tells you all you need to know about why Bardot is a legend even in her senior years. And no, I don't believe And God Created Woman's silly ending in which we are expected to believe that a few slaps from Jean Louis Trintignant are enough to turn Bardot into a submissive French housewife. On the other hand, I don't think audiences in the 1950's were ready to deal with the reality of a sexually liberated woman like Brigitte.

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