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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The 2 Je t'aime women together in BB's last film. Erotic!, October 20, 2003
This review is from: Don Juan (or If Don Juan Were a Woman) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Brigitte Bardot stars here in her last film along with Jane Birkin, the other singer who recorded the Serge Gainesbourg hit, "Je t'aime". This film is worth seeing, as we see BB's and Vadim's evolution from "And God Created Woman" to this post-sixties over-the-top comedy-drama. We get some great nude scenes with Brigitte and Jane, and BB's character Jeanne is someone fed up with men, so she resorts to seduce and destroy tactics. As in "And God Created Woman" she's pretty much playing herself, but with an exaggerated storyline of driving men to ruin, murder, and suicide. The campy ironic humor is there in such scenarios as seducing a priest as well as setting up a fake menage-a-trois to madden a bete homme. Also a scene with Robert Walker Jr. (Charlie X in Star Trek TOS) where the price she asks for making love is no less than his life, which he takes seriously. The ending is a multiple meaning one as BB saves a man who makes her "pay for her sins" (though he's unappreciative). I think the end hits home for Brigitte in real life saying in effect, "look you male-dominated world, you've made my life hell". And it's the last scene she ever did on film. Worth seeing for it's erotic quality (but what BB film isn't), the submarine home, the early '70s fashions, and the camp.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bewildering, fascinating film, July 25, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Don Juan (or If Don Juan Were a Woman) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is a bewildering but fascinating film. Bardot plays the part of a wealthy woman who seeks to conquer and destroy men especially weak and despicable ones. Bardot gives a very strong and convincing performance. At age 38, her beauty remains in tact. She looks virtually the same as she did 11 years earlier in the film A Very Private Affair. Her face and figure are fuller than they were in the late 60's when she seemed to have lost too much weight. Gone is Bardot's golden hair. She begins and ends her film career as a brunette. Gone are Bardot's tight sweaters and skirts. She dresses in mostly hippie fashion. Near the end of the movie she Wows you in a steamy love scene when she disrobes and seduces her cousin, a priest. She is more shapely than ever. For whatever reason Bardot retired not long after this film's release. You'll never see Bardot grow old on the screen. And she didn't have to die young to fix her place in film history. Today she is a living legend and icon. One final thought. I have never seen a leading actress get slapped around like Bardot. From her first film Crazy For Love to her last film, Don Juan, and countless films in between she gets slapped in her pretty little face. Sure it's all make believe but it sends a terrible message and should be an affront to all women. If you can abuse Bardot, then any woman is fair game and that just isn't right.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful transfer of a miserable film, January 29, 2003
I know it's not cool to speak ill of the dead, but Vadim was a terrible director. Of the Vadim movies I've seen, only The Night Heaven Fell was remotely worth watching, and then only as a stock melodrama. Don Juan, on the other hand, is yet another example of Vadim's prediliction for directing his wife while she wears little or no clothing. With little or no script. What makes Don Juan different from the other Vadim/Bardot "films"? This time, she lives in a submarine. No, really. Bardot seduces her cousin (a priest) by telling him about her erotic exploits, in which she humiliates men. Not in a kinky, female-empowerment role-reversal kind of way, but in a boring, time-wasting kind of way. For some reason, HVE has seen fit to restore this film - it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately, a great transfer and a luscious leading lady do not a great film make. The one thing I will say for this film is that it taught me to be very careful with fire around concrete. That stuff burns like crazy. If you're looking for a good Bardot film, try Plucking the Daisy.
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