Brigitte Bardot

Saint-Tropez

The mythical scene from Et Dieu… créa la femme

In the early 1950s, Brigitte Bardot was the rising star of the cinema. But it was a film by Roger Vadim (whom the actress married in 1952), And God Created Woman, which literally turned her overnight into a sex symbol and international star. She plays Juliette, a young woman who is free and much courted, in a story where the outdoor scenes were mostly filmed in Saint-Tropez. You’ll see the LaPonche quarter, with its little beach. And a Pampelonne beach in Ramatuelle. That was where the film crew used to have their meals. The former canteen was later to become Le Club 55, a famous bar, restaurant and private beach. The indoor scenes were filmed in Studios de la Victorine in Nice. The film And God Created Woman forged unbreakable bonds between Saint-Tropez and Brigitte Bardot. Today, the Musée de la Gendarmerie et du Cinéma in Saint-Tropez, which explores the links between the town and the cinema, pays homage to her. And in 2017, a golden statue of Brigitte Bardot was erected in Place Blanqui. It weighs 700 kg and is 2½ metres high!

The village of La Madrague

La Madrague… the name must ring a bell! In 1958, Brigitte Bardot bought, on impulse, this little fisherman’s house ‘on the water’ on Route des Canebiers. Many parties were held there with the famous actors at the time, including Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Despite the constant pressure from the paparazzi, La Madrague was, throughout her life, her refuge. She led a very simple life there. In 1992, even though she continued to live there, she donated the house to her foundation, la Fondation Brigitte Bardot, created in 1986 in Saint-Tropez to defend animal rights. La Madrague, is of course also a song with the same name, created in 1963, and whose lyrics have remained famous: « Sur la plage abandonnée, coquillages et crustacés, qui l’eût cru déplorent la perte de l’été, qui depuis s’en est allé ». Literally, « On the abandoned beach, shells and sea animals, who would believe they are sad to lose the summer, which has gone ». What is less known is that Brigitte Bardot had been coming to Saint-Tropez since her childhood: her parents also had a holiday house there: La Saravia, on Rue de la Miséricorde.

Cannes

A festival of glory

Brigitte Bardot distinguished herself several times in Cannes. On 25th April 1953, she went there with her husband Roger Vadim. On the beach of Hôtel Carlton, she posed in a bikini for photographers. The pictures made a sensation, at a time when two-piece bathing suits, and bikinis even more so, were rare on the beaches. Three years later, in 1956, she walked the Festival de Cannes red carpet as the unchallenged star of La Croisette. Her second and last appearance at the event was in 1967, for the presentation of the film Batouk produced by Gunter Sachs, her husband at the time. Her arrival caused scenes of hysteria!

And also Saint-Jean-Cap Ferrat, the Col d’Eze, Nice and the Camargue

Less spontaneously associated with Bardot than Saint-Tropez and Cannes, other places in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur help you to dive into her film career. On the Côte d’Azur, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and the Col d’Eze, where scenes from La Lumière d’En face (The Light Across the Street) were shot (produced by Georges Lacombe, 1956) and where Bardot plays opposite Raymond Pellegrin. And Nice as the setting, with Paris, for Une Parisienne (Michel Boisrond, 1957). Lastly, in Provence, the Camargue was chosen as the setting (with Seville) for La Femme et le Pantin (The Female) by Julien Duvivier, 1959). Our tip: start with And God Created Woman, for a little trip into the authentic Saint-Tropez of the 1950s!