Le Repos du guerrier (1962)

Le Repos du guerrier is a French romantic film drama first released in 1962, directed by Roger Vadim.  The film stars Brigitte Bardot, Robert Hossein, Jean-Marc Bory, Michel Serrault and Jacqueline Porel.  It has also been released under the title: Love on a Pillow.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


A beautiful  young woman, Genevieve, has just inherited a fortune from an aunt.  Before going to see her lawyer, she checks into a hotel where, mixing up her room number, she comes across a young man who has just taken an overdose of tablets.  The young man, Renaud,  is taken to hospital and has recovered by the time Genevieve goes to visit him.  With nowhere to go, Renaud persuades Genevieve to stay with him.  The two spend a night in Genevieve’s inherited mansion, and soon discover a mutual physical attraction.  Renaud takes up residence in Genevieve’s apartment, and the heiress soon forgets her engagement to another man.  Although Renauld and Genevieve are very much in love, neither is happy, and Renaud spends most of his day drinking.  On the advice of a friend, the two lovers set out to spend a few days in provincial Italy.  However, Renauld’s condition seems only to worsen...

Although this film is a little marred by Vadim’s tendency to use pretty photography and eroticism as a substitute for character depth and content, it has its good points and is worth seeing.  It boasts better than average acting performances from its lead stars, Brigitte Bardot and Robert Hossein, and, although teetering on the brink of sentimentality, the film’s ending has a touch of genius about it.

Essentially, the film is about the inability for human beings to cope with complete freedom. Genevieve and Renaud symbolise the two extreme poles of Bourgeoise respectability and libertine hedonism.  As the film develops, the two poles move closer together and ultimately, after some fierce friction, converge to a compromise position which is nearer the former.

When the film begins, Genevieve is happy: she has inherited a fortune and plans to marry her boyfriend.  Meanwhile, the stranger Roland is lying on his hotel bed attempting to kill himself.  Genevieve enters Roland’s room – and his world – and offers him some temporary salvation.  She submits to his libertine lifestyle, but does not enjoy it.    For his part, Roland has everything he can want: a beautiful lover, a nice home, money, endless drink... but the more he has, the less he has, and his depression worsens.  The only solution is to abandon this freedom and to succumb to the yoke of domesticity.   In a curious variation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, a broken Roland submits to an indomitable Gevevieve – an outcome that is pleasing but only partly convincing.

© James Travers 1999

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