In the decades following her retirement from acting, Brigitte Bardot’s personal life, animal-rights activism and right-wing politics so overshadowed her filmography that it became almost easy to forget that she did make movies — and she was very good at it. The star, who died on Sunday, had what can’t be taught: charisma and attitude, a spunky charm and an often spiky personality that took over the screen.
Unfortunately, some of her best, or at least most representative, movies, are not available for streaming in the United States. For now, Christian-Jaque’s “Babette Goes to War,” Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “The Truth,” Louis Malle’s “A Very Private Affair” and “Viva Maria!” will have to remain on your watch list.
Until those turn up, here is a small selection that should give you an idea of Bardot’s presence — few actors can transcend whatever weak vehicle they end up in the way that she could.
‘And God Created Woman” (1956)
It’s easy to see Bardot merely as a sex object in her breakthrough movie, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim: The story opens with her sunbathing in the nude and later portrays her emerging from the sea in a clingy wet dress, all the while being coveted by seemingly every man. But it’d be more accurate to say that Bardot was a sex subject, a woman who owned up to her desires and wants.
No matter what, she was in control, even when she looked possessed dancing a ferocious mambo — she appeared to move for the benefit of the men watching her, but her energy was only sublimating herself. Shot in Saint-Tropez, the film also laid down the foundation for Bardot’s lifelong association with that small town on the Riviera, where she bought a secluded property that she much preferred to the lights of Paris.
‘Une Parisienne’ (1957)
Stream it on the Criterion Channel.
After their hit “Naughty Girl” (1956), Bardot reunited with the director Michel Boisrond for another comedy. “Une Parisienne” boasts zippy dialogue and direction that are more kinetic than usual for Boisrond; The New York Times’ review deemed the movie “a frothy, irreverent spoof.” The format is very much that of classic French farce, mixing and matching married men and women, lovers and mistresses, as they alternate between pursuing and avoiding each other.
Elevating pouting into an art form, Bardot gives a typically spirited performance as the prime minister’s daughter, Brigitte — another instance where the boundaries between her persona and her character were purposely blurred. Her staid paramours, played by Henri Vidal and Charles Boyer, don’t stand a chance against this tornado. Fun footnote: The main singer on the swinging vocalese soundtrack is Christiane Legrand, the sister of the composer Michel Legrand.
‘Contempt’ (1963)
Based on a novel by Alberto Moravia, this masterpiece is the result of the collision of two dominant forces in modern French culture: Bardot and Jean-Luc Godard. Actually, make that three forces, since cinema itself is very much the subject of the movie, which takes place in Italy and features the director Fritz Lang as himself.
Bardot had already expanded her register with dramatic roles in “Love Is My Profession” (1959) and “The Truth” (1961), but she wanted to test herself further with a New Wave iconoclast. A sunbathing scene is reminiscent of the one the opened “And God Created Woman,” but the context is so different that it makes the head spin. “Contempt” is partly about Bardot’s image as the ultimate film star — or even the ultimate woman — and the film’s conflation of classicism and modernism remains sui generis decades later.
‘The Vixen’ (1969)
Rent or buy it on Prime Video.
Proceed with caution: Jean Aurel’s “The Vixen” (the original title is Les Femmes, or “Women”) is representative of a certain type of French cinema that does not always cross borders — more stylish than its American counterpart, but perhaps even more exploitative in its supposed permissiveness. Why is it here? Because Bardot is terrific in it, a diamond that shines brighter than its setting. Her character, Clara, is the assistant to a blocked novelist (Maurice Ronet) who uses her for inspiration. The star is at her late-1960s peak, her hair a huge mane, her smile knowing and ironic against a pop backdrop filled with close-ups and bright colors. You can’t take your eyes away from her.
‘Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman’ (1973)
Stream it on the Criterion Channel.
Film lovers did not see Bardot age into an older woman onscreen: She gave up that career before she was 40. And so this reunion with Vadim is a rare opportunity to watch Bardot in her late 30s, leading her penultimate film.
Like Don Juan, her character, Jeanne, acts on her desires unimpeded by bourgeois boundaries. She recounts them to a priest (Mathieu Carrière) in what feels less like a confession than a seduction technique. Jeanne’s ecumenical approach extends to a denim-clad wife (Jane Birkin), but the tales can’t come close to matching Bardot’s aloof charisma — you want more for the character and for the actress. Still, the sheer star quality, the baroque sets and a flamboyant neo-classical score by Michel Magne add up to a head-spinning product of its time: not good per se, but eminently watchable.
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