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Cinema

And God Created Woman

Et Dieu… créa la femme

Roger Vadim · 1956

Synopsis

In Saint-Tropez, Juliette Hardy, an eighteen-year-old orphan, unsettles the men of the small town with her freedom and offends convention. Threatened with being sent back to the orphanage, she agrees to marry Michel Tardieu, whose family runs a shipyard. But it is Antoine, Michel's elder brother, whom she loves, and he hesitates to commit himself to a young woman whom those around him judge badly. A wealthy businessman, Eric Carradine, is also under her spell.

Context

It is the first film by Roger Vadim, then married to Brigitte Bardot, who plays Juliette opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christian Marquand and Curd Jürgens. Shot in Saint-Tropez in colour and in CinemaScope, it was released on 28 November 1956. Condemned by the Catholic Church, it drew nearly four million admissions in France and became, in the United States, the greatest success of its time for a foreign-language film.

Who it is for

An hour and a half, in colour; the scandal of the time has faded, what remains is the portrait of an orphan whom the whole town spies on.

Prizes and reception

It made Brigitte Bardot an international star; Criterion distributes a restored master approved by Vadim.

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