Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune (1958) - film review

Having just completed her studies in a convent, Ursula decides to visit her aunt Florentine in Spain.  When she arrives, a young mechanic, Lambert, attacks her uncle, Ribera, accusing him of driving his sister to suicide.  Ursula discovers that Lambert is Florentine’s secret lover but ends up herself by falling in love with him.  One evening, Lambert kills Ribera whilst waiting for his mistress.  To avoid being hung, Lambert expects Florentine to supply him with an alibi.  Aware that Lambert no longer loves her, Florentine refuses and instead intends to see him executed for the murder of her husband.  Ursula and Lambert go on the run, pursued by the Spanish police...

For his third film, Roger Vadim once again cast his then wife Brigitte Bardot in the lead role of a sumptuously shot drama.  After their collaboration on  Et Dieu...  créa la femme (1956), Bardot had become an international film star and sex goddess, and most of her subsequent films would make huge capital from her beauty and obvious sex appeal.  In Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune, Bardot seems to spend most of the film in revealing underwear – something which may have helped ticket sales, but it doesn’t add much to the credibility of the film.

Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune is very typical of Roger Vadim.  If the art of cinema lay solely in a film’s look, then this would be a veritable masterpiece.  The cinematography is exquisitely beautiful, capturing the magnificent splendour of the Spanish location and giving the film the feel of a full-blooded western adventure.   Unfortunately, the film falls down in virtually every respect.  Combine a third rate script with some ludicrously unsubtle acting, add an inappropriately bombastic musical score, remove any serious attempt at humour and irony, and what you get is Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune.  Although the script is largely to blame, Bardot’s performance lacks any real feeling and is painfully over-the-top in a few places, although working with Stephen Boyd, an actor apparently composed entirely from wood, could explain that.  Although the film is pretty to look at, its lack of a credible storyline and any emotional depth make it a painfully drawn out viewing experience.

© James Travers 2006

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