8/10
Bardot's image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence
8 July 1999
Warning: Spoilers
The image of a nude Brigitte Bardot stretched out on her stomach, as she appeared at the very beginning of "And God Created Woman," used to create posters that sold by the thousands and helped to popularize her initials, "B.B."

The scandal she provoked launched the film and made it an unprecedented success… Her image embodied a unique combination of perversity and innocence, a mix she displayed in her powerful portrayal of the fascinating character in the film—a young woman, proud of her body, who ultimately rejects morality… However, this opposition to conventional behavior was more a declaration of intent than of reality… The film was actually a morality tale: the liaison of the heroine and her brother-in-law was severely criticized, and conjugal love triumphed over the other more sordid union in the end…

The controversy of "An God Created Woman" lay not so much in the actual events, but in the female character's impudence… And even if Vadim's message has become dated, it nonetheless documents a difficult period of time and the frustration that accompanied a living, breathing, sexual fantasy, an object of desire, a symbol of sexual liberty… Sex was no longer voyeurism, as it was in George Lacombe's "The Light Across the Street," (La Lumière d'en face) but instead became a reality which called for one's attention…

Seen in this way, it is incontestable that "B.B." and Vadim contributed to the liberation of sexual mores, almost presaging the Sexual Revolution
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