Brigitte Bardot in Spoleto...

Many people, who have not been here, ask us, "Why Spoleto?"  Director Louis Malle understood, as did photographer Marcello Geppetti.  This photo, Bardot, larger than life in Spoleto by Geppetti was taken when Brigitte was here filming La Vie Privée.

The movie follows the life of fictional diva and sex icon 'Jill' who due to the pressures of fame and a troubled personal life meets a tragic end. Often overlapping with biographical details of her own life, the film blurs the lines between reality and fiction. Referring to Bardot's own relationship with the persistent press, the film paints the picture of an ever-growing army of paparazzi willing to cross any line for a shot. La Vie Privée was met with critical success and public debate grew around the issue of right to privacy, an issue that is still at the forefront today. According to Malle, filming was difficult from the start, Bardot and her co-star Marcello Mastroianni didn't get on and there was a great deal of press intrusion and studio interference. Malle was unhappy with the film and frustrated by the experience of making it apart from the last section shot in Spoleto that he felt had a lyrical quality that transcended the material.

The New York Times review, upon its 1962 release, was not flattering regarding the movie (calling it deplorably banal) but had this to say about our town, "As a matter of fact, the visualization of Spoleto and its famous festival, to which the haunted heroine and her lover try to escape in the last half of the film, is stunning beyond description, with the buildings of the medieval town providing a richly mellowed setting for a vivid stage spectacle. Day and night scenes in the old square and before the superb ancient church have an integral beauty and excitement that are complete and satisfying in themselves."

Being as I am a cinema connoisseur,
La Vie Privée will be a movie to put on my list of "must sees" if only to have a piece of Spoleto and its beauty back in California.

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1 comments:

TomR@cordonbleu said...

First time I ever heard the term "sex kitten" was in reference to Ms Bardot. I was 11. I had no idea what it meant. Compare that to today.

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