Brigitte Bardot

Bardot, international French film star, trail-blazing sexual rebel, 60s icon and fashion legend, is a vibrant addition to the 'Film Stars' series. Ginette Vincendeau's study of Bardot explores the significance of one of the most famous, fascinating and controversial of all French film stars. He combines detailed textual analysis of Bardot's performance throughout her rise to stardom with a historical contextualisation of her star persona in post-war French society and the international film industry and places a spotlight on the complex relationship with French national identity both home and abroad.

GINETTE VINCENDEAU is a professor of Film Studies at King's College, London.  Her publications include:
French Film, Texts and Contexts (co-ed. with Susan Hayward) (Routledge, 1990 and 2000)
The Encyclopedia of European Cinema (ed.) (BFI/Cassell, 1995)
Pépé le Moko (BFI Film Classics, 1998)
Stars and Stardom in French Cinema (Continuum, 2000 and 2005; updated and expanded French edition: Les Stars et le star-système en France [L'Harmattan, 2008])
Film/Literature/Heritage (ed.) (BFI, 2001)
Jean-Pierre Melville, An American in Paris (BFI, 2003)
La Haine (I.B. Tauris, 2005)
Journeys of Desire, European Actors in Hollywood (co-ed. With Alastair Phillips) (BFI, 2006)
The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (co-ed. with Peter Graham) (BFI, 2009).

Introduction

Chapter One
Chapter one covers Bardot's training as a ballet dancer and early career as a fashion model, and rise to stardom.

Chapter Two
Chapter two examines Bardot's roles and performance style in the films she made during her period of 'high stardom' between 1956 and 1960.

Chapter Three
Chapter three examines the second half of Bardot's cinematic career, from 1960 to her last film in 1973, when she took the decistion to stop acting.

Chapter Four
Chapter four examines Bardot's long post-cinematic celebrity, which has clearly outlived her 'retirement' in 1973.

Conclusion

Appendices:
Filmography
Box-office figures for Bardot's films
Bibliography