BARDOT, DENEUVE, FONDA

by Roger Vadim ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1986

Strangely modest but compelling autobiography of French fill director Vadim's life with three movie queens noted at times for their great beauty and sexual allure. Vadim began writing novelettes in his teens and broke into films very young, mostly as a screenwriter. He fell in love with Bardot when she was 15. She had no interest in acting and expected to be a ballerina, but her parents approved a screen test, which did not land her a job right away. She and Vadim were lovers for three years before she married him at 18. He helped her through her early film career in mediocre films under mediocre directors, then wrote And God Created Woman for her. When released, the film was a great scandal but did poor business in Paris until Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures bought and ballyhooed it. Then the sex kitten became world box office. One of Vadim's more amazing stories--considering his leaning toward free love beyond the marriage bed--tells of a week he and Bardot and Ursula Andress spent sleeping in the same bed without any sex play. Bardot knew that their marriage was doomed, and was always silently begging, ""Don't let me fall in love with someone else."" But she did, with Jean-Louis Trintignant; Vadim could do little but let her go. But he was ready for Annette, his next wife, a complete egoist (as are all the women in this book), then for 16-year-old Deneuve, with whom he had a child and a six-year affair, and then for Fonds, in her early 20s and something of a pagan goddess full of youth, boldness and freedom. But Jane was less egotistical than his other mates and made a cult of hard work. She could be understanding of others, even after three years of Vadim's emerging profligacy. (He would at times even bring his conquests home to the marriage bed.) Jane seemingly had the courage to allow him his sexual freedom while remaining faithful, until she broke and began having a man here and there while telling Vadim all--in accord with their code. Vadim remains a loving father to his several children and keeps in close touch with them, but there is something dispiriting about all these egoists taking advantage of each other with no love ever getting much chance to last. That's the story, and Vadim tells it disarmingly.

Pub Date: April 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION