(1956; et Dieu … créa la femme, French) Only teasing glimpses (intimations of immorality) of those fabulous features appear - for example, in the opening sunbathing scene, lying naked but face down - of Brigitte Bardot as Juliette Hardy, a gorgeous, curvaceous, blonde, 18-year-old orphan (BB was actually 22 and PG-13 by today's standards), residing with her foster parents on St Tropez, who exasperated with her wild antics decide she must be sent back to the orphanage.

Not wanting her to leave, Eric Carradine (Curd Jurgens), a suave but much older businessman who's been offering apples to Eve, is unable to marry or adopt her. A woman says to him: "When you look at her, you don't seem as intelligent." Other than Juliette, his interest in the port on the Côte d'Azur is a real-estate development for a hotel and casino, but "three idiots and fifty yards" of coast stand in his way.

The three Tardieu brothers - eldest and handsomest Antoine (Christian Marquand), Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant), and their younger brother Christian (Georges Poujouly) - refuse to sell their scrap of sand and tiny shipyard, though they can't make a decent living with it alone.

In love with Antoine, Juliette overhears him saying to someone that he only wants her for one night since he will be marrying his boss's niece in Toulon; her plan to runaway afterward - releasing her pet bird and rabbit - goes awry. In love with Juliette, Michel, taking his cue from Carradine's asking if there's anyone man enough and willing to marry and tame the wild animal, convinces Juliette (who warns him that she wasn't born to be domesticated) to marry him instead of being sent away.

On their wedding day, when a young man calls Michel a cuckold, the groom throws a punch but then gets badly beaten; when the couple arrives home with family and guests waiting for them at the dinner table, they go straight upstairs together.

After Juliette drops a hint to Carradine how to make an appealing offer to her in-laws for the land, the Tardieus agree to a contract, on one further condition: that Antoine return from Toulon to manage the larger shipyard. When Juliette ("I work at being happy"), for whom for awhile the moon is full of honey, learns of Antoine's coming back to St Tropez, she's afraid for herself and her marriage.

The mambo-dancing scene brings everything - music, mood, characters, events - to a frantic crescendo. After you've seen director/co-screenwriter (with producer Raoul Lévy) Roger Vadim's foreign feature (alluring to post-war American audiences with its sly, subtle dialogue accompanied by smart, carnal acting - though today's feminists may be offended), you'll agree with Brigitte Bardot's saying: "You won't ever forget me."

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .