Vie privée (1962) - film review

Within virtually no time at all, an 18 years old girl Jill is propelled from total obscurity to stardom. Whilst pursuing dancing lessons in Paris, she is hired as a fashion model, before starting a career as an actress.  Jill’s films are a hit and she becomes the most talked about woman in France.  At first, the attention of the world’s press works in her favour.  She is hailed as screen goddess and her film career goes from strength to strength.  But then it all becomes too much for her.  She has a nervous breakdown and attempts suicide.  Leaving a sanatorium, she attempts to find her mother, in vain.  Instead she meets up with Fabio, an Italian intellectual who was once married to one of her friends.  With no one else left, Jill clings to Fabio and becomes his mistress.  However, he seems to be more interested in a stage play he is producing.   Jill’s acting career may be over but the journalists are still there, ready for their next feeding frenzy…

Brigitte Bardot hadn’t quite reached the highpoint of her career when she agreed to make this film with high profile New Wave film director Louis Malle.  Even so, the pressure of being a living icon was obviously beginning to get to France’s sex goddess and Vie privée is as much an attempt by Bardot to come to terms with her celebrity as anything else.  Malle is clearly fascinated by Bardot and the documentary approach he adopts for this film reinforces the impression that it is more a biography of the actress than a work of fiction.  Of course it’s not entirely biographical, but the story is remarkably close to Bardot’s own life and comes pretty close to predicting how her career would end.

Although in its way Vie privée is a fascinating piece of psychological drama, it is certainly far from being Malle’s best work.  The false documentary style keeps a certain distance between the director and his muse, which prevents us from really getting under the star’s skin and sympathising with her plight.  More annoying is the fact that Marcello Mastroianni is dubbed (badly) by a French actor, the result being that his scenes with Bardot feel artificial and lacking in warmth.  From the mid-point of the film, the narrative seems to drag somewhat – most of the story seems to have been told and there’s very little much else to be said.  However, Bardot manages to hold our attention with one of her most convincing and emotionally truthful performances.  How she must have suffered in making this film is anyone’s guess.  She would subsequently work with Louis Malle on Viva Maria!

© James Travers 2006

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