Bardot

Bardot is a vast and complex subject. How can it be approached with care, how can such a fascinating life be summarized ? This feature film, in black and white and color, covers Bardot's eventful life in 90 minutes, from her rather unhappy childhood to her life as a star and her loneliness, and her fight for animals.

We learn that her thirst for freedom and her desire to break away from her family stemmed from tense relationships with her parents during her youth and a strict upbringing in a narrow-minded, Catholic bourgeois environment. One example cited in the film is when Brigitte Bardot, as a child, had to learn to walk properly, as befits a girl from a good family, by carrying a glass of water on her head. Ballet was the only thing that brought her joy and satisfaction. It was a talent that would later help her develop grace and poise.

After becoming a young model for Elle magazine, Bardot's life was turned upside down when she met
Vadim, marking the beginning of a long and promising career. Numerous flashbacks allow viewers to revisit the different stages of her acting career, thanks to previously unseen archive footage, anecdotes, interviews with actresses and directors, and film clips. To differentiate and change the themes presented, animated silhouettes of Bardot, in the style of shadow puppets, appear and create a dynamic effect.

It is a fairly comprehensive overview, as after her youth and her early career, we see Brigitte Bardot become a mother, not without difficulty, and we understand her setbacks, her anxieties, and her difficulties with the paparazzi who spy on her at every moment at the bottom of her building, one of the worst periods of her life, according to her. Then, years later, there is a radical turning point with her passion and relentless fight for animal protection, which leads her to leave the film industry for good without hesitation. There is a very moving sequence when she poses and takes baby seals in her arms.

This film reveals the many facets of Bardot, with her scandalous love life, sometimes melancholic with many disappointments, her hypersensitivity, but also her modernity, humor, and spontaneity. The staging is fluid and varied, alternating between newsreel footage, previously unseen reports, and intimate portraits of B.B., keeping the viewer's interest alive throughout the documentary. It is also a pleasure to hear Bardot's raspy voice in voiceover from her home in La Madrague. In the absence of a chronological order, we move easily from the past to the present without difficulty.

This feature film takes us through several decades, from her beginnings in the 1950s to the present day. It is an excellent piece of research, resulting in a documentary that is accurate, realistic, and emotional. It allows us to discover a free-spirited, touching actress who was ahead of her time and who left her mark on an entire generation with her often-criticized lifestyle and fashion choices. A discovery for some, nostalgia for others, this film powerfully retraces the life of a complex star who leaves no one indifferent. With this rich documentary, Elora Thevenet and Alain Berliner seem to have succeeded in portraying Bardot as best as possible with tact, meticulousness, and respect, making her more human and far from clichés, a true portrait that can be viewed with pleasure and interest.

Bardot
Directed by Alain Berliner, Elora Thevenet
Written by Elora Thevenet, Nicolas Bary, Alain Berliner, Jessica Menendez
Produced by Julien Loeffler, James Kermack, James Barton, Nicolas Bary, Elora Thevenet
Starring Christian Ardan, Frédérique Bel, Christian Brincourt, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Claude Lelouch, Brigitte Rollet, Paul Watson, François-Pier Pélinard-Lambert, Naomi Campbell, Anthony Gordon, Gaia Weiss, Ezra Miller, Ester Expósito, Stella McCartney, Brigitte Bardot
Cinematography: Boris Abaza, Aurélien Dubois, Gaëlle Tanguy
Edited by Jérôme Pey
Production companies: Featuristic Films
Distributed by Pathe Live (France)
Release dates: December 3, 2025 (France)
Running time: 90 minutes

Seen on October 14, 2025 at Pathé Wepler

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