Unlike fellow blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot lived to a ripe old age. After retiring from acting, she championed animal rights and later, somewhat problematically, expressed far-right views that resulted in her being prosecuted for inciting racial hatred. It was a full life, one that understandably might take six hours to depict. Yet despite allocating this amount of time, Bardot only depicts her life up until her suicide attempt at the age of 25... and it takes it sweet time doing so.

​

Ten years earlier Bardot graced the cover of Elle magazine and caught the attention of screenwriter Roger Vadim. Despite their age difference and her parent’s objections, the two become lovers, marrying once Bardot turns eighteen.  Cast as the lead in Vadim’s directorial debut, Bardot takes up with her leading man Jean-Louis Trintignant until his frequent absences thrusts her into the arms of singer Gilbert Bécaud. Another movie presents another lover, whom she marries and bears an unwanted son. Little wonder her new husband feels threatened by the co-star of her next movie, for one needs a scorecard to keep track of who Bardot is scoring with.

​

If it all reads like the plot of one of Bardot’s films, that’s likely because many of her characters were based on her, or her experiences. Vadim has acknowledged that the lead role in ...And God Created Woman was inspired by his then-wife’s free-spirited nature. In A Very Private Affair, Bardot portrayed a famous actress who endures a hostile public. In a case of life imitating art imitating life, the biopic recreates a scene from this film in which the actress in attacked in an elevator, which itself was based on real incident that happened to her. 

Other episodes from Bardot’s filmography are similarly mined, all to little effect. Despite the many trials and tribulations endured by the actress, writer/directing team Danièle and Christopher Thompson fail to evoke any concern for her welfare. Most of her ill fortune is portrayed as being a result of her own making. Even in her relationship with the much older Vadim, Bardot is depicted as the aggressor, whereas the Svengali-like Vadim inexplicably becomes one of the biopic’s more sympathetic characters.

​

For a more illuminating, and much less lengthy, representation of Bardot, we recommend the identically titled 2025 documentary directed by Alain Berliner and Elora Thevenet.