Brigitte Bardot to Be Focus of Documentary From ‘Ma Vie en Rose’ Director Alain Berliner (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough
·2 min read
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Alain Berliner, who directed the BAFTA-nominated and Golden Globe-winning “Ma vie en rose,” is in pre-production on feature documentary “Bardot,” about French actor, singer and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot. Bardot is giving the project her full support, and will narrate the film herself.

“Bardot” is produced by Julien Loeffler, James Kermack and James Barton-Steel at Featuristic Films (“Laurent Garnier: Off the Record,” “Afghanistan”), teaming with Nicolas Bary (“Trouble at Timpetill,” “Little Spirou”) at TimpelPictures. They have released an exclusive first look image from the film.

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The film will offer Bardot an opportunity “to speak openly about her life and revisit some of the issues she feels passionately about,” such as women’s place in society, animal welfare, deforestation and global warming, according to a statement from the producers. It will contain never seen before archive film and photos, as well as music from the 1950s and 1960s.

Berliner said: “The icon that is Brigitte Bardot remains a mystery. Today, she should be considered a feminist, a maverick, ahead of her time. But in her era, she was misunderstood, rebellious and out-of-step with the strict ideas of what a woman should be… when what she sought above all, was her freedom. She was, and still is, a rebel with a cause.”

Bardot started her acting career in 1952, and achieved international recognition for her role in “And God Created Woman” in 1956. She also caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1959 essay “The Lolita Syndrome,” which described her as a “locomotive of women’s history,” and built on existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France.

Bardot won a David di Donatello best foreign actress award in 1961 for “The Truth,” and starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 movie “Le Mépris.” For her role in Louis Malle’s “Viva Maria!” (1965) she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for best foreign actress.

By the time Bardot retired from showbiz in 1973, she had acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985. After retiring, she became an animal rights activist and created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The documentary will address her provocative views on politics and race, which have made her a divisive figure in France.

Berliner has co-produced several feature films and is financing “Soma,” the first film of Miklos Keleti, and his own feature film, “Love, Sex and Little Contradictions,” both to be shot in the English language.

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