Brigitte Bardot: Liberté

By Danny Lewis

From her first starring role in '. . . And God Created Women', Brigitte Bardot has fascinated the public. This extended essay asserts that the primary reason Bardot has captivated public consciousness is that she stands for, indeed insists upon, absolute liberty – the freedom to behave as she pleases, to love who she desires, to say what she feels – even if doing so leads her into controversy.

As a young woman, Bardot represented a break with previous notions of womanhood, embodying the jeune fille, who lived by her own desires and instinct rather than by traditional morality and establishment codes. She changed how fashion, commerce and the media responded to young women. Simone de Beauvoir called Bardot ‘the locomotive of women’s history’.

Her subsequent film career saw her work with many famous directors and actors of the day, often in roles that exemplified (and played with) the sexually liberated persona she had cultivated, but she tired of the limelight and retired from film at age 39. In refusing celebrity, she sought the freedom to live the bohemian life that she had rebelled against her Catholic upbringing to pursue.

Since her retirement, Bardot has devoted her time to animal rights issues, and in doing so has stepped into the French political arena. She says what she wants, refusing to be silent even when she has been fined several times for incitement to racial hatred. Contentious she may be, but the love affair between her and the public remains incredibly strong, because she represents what we all wish to achieve: absolute liberty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Danny Lewis
• Release date: Dec 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005760380

Book preview

Brigitte Bardot: Liberté

By Danny Lewis

Copyright © Danny Lewis 2022

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Introduction

Bardot & Youth

Bardot & Film

Bardot and Fame

Bardot & Animals

Bardot & Politics

Bardot & France

Bardot & Love

Bardot & Death

Desire and pleasure seem to her truer than precepts and conventions.

Simone de Beauvoir writing about Brigitte Bardot

They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself.

Brigitte Bardot

Introduction

To many people Brigitte Bardot is an icon. For some she is a key figure in an era when cinema – in particular, French cinema – made radical shifts in subject and form. To others she is a fashion icon, popularising new styles that we now take for granted and embodying the – only slightly exaggerated – innate stylishness of the French woman. For others still, Bardot is a figurehead of the animal rights movement.

I would argue that what unites these different takes on Bardot (which, of course, can overlap), and indeed what defines her life, certainly as a public figure, is freedom.

Bardot’s unwillingness to compromise, her seemingly inviolable sense of self, a complete commitment to her own liberty, and a determination to act authentically rather than conform to anyone else’s notions of how she should (or shouldn’t) behave are evident in almost every aspect of Bardot’s life and career.

Bardot was utterly aware of herself, sure of her desires and beliefs. She knew what she wanted and nothing – neither fame, propriety, tradition nor expectation – would stop her pursuing it.

This commitment to freedom in many ways defines Bardot and is what makes her subject to so much fascination. We project onto her our own wish to act in accordance with our desires, even if we don’t agree with some of her actions. But because for most of us, ‘real’ life prevents that from happening much of the time, Bardot becomes iconic.

She didn’t give a damn and we can’t help but admire her for it.

Bardot & Youth

Brigitte Bardot first came to national attention when she was just 15 years old.

In 1949 she appeared on the cover of Elle magazine. And it proved a signal moment for many French women.

At the time, in the aftermath of the Second World War, people were questioning the status quo, questioning the way society had been, not least because it had led to such a devastating conflict. Ideas about breaking with the status quo and