Love on a Pillow is a lesser-known collaboration between French New Wave icon Brigitte Bardot and her one-time husband Roger Vadim. Vadim first caught sight of the almond-eyed siren – aptly nicknamed Bichette (little doe) by her peers – when she
Love on a Pillow is a lesser-known collaboration between French New Wave icon Brigitte Bardot and her one-time husband Roger Vadim. Vadim first caught sight of the almond-eyed siren – aptly nicknamed Bichette (little doe) by her peers – when she graced the March cover of Elle, aged just 15. The young director was instantly enthralled and arranged for Bardot to audition for a (never released) film of a friend of his. This for Bardot was an introduction not only to an unplanned acting career (she was then training as a ballerina) but also to love, and she married Vadim in 1952 at the age of 17.
In 1956, the pair filmed Bardot’s break-through movie, (the highly controversial) And God Created Women, which catapulted the actress to international stardom and cultivated her enduring status as the ultimate “sex symbol”. A year later, however, the couple's relationship began to falter and they agreed upon a divorce. Nevertheless, they remained close friends, going on to make two more films together, the final of which was Love on a Pillow, now approaching its 50th anniversary. Despite never achieving the same level of fame as their debut endeavour, the film is a beautiful and intriguing study of human dynamics and the irrationality caused by sexual attraction and unlikely love.
"The film is a beautiful and intriguing study of human dynamics and the irrationality caused by sexual attraction and unlikely love..."
Bardot plays Genevieve Le Thiel, a refined, upper class Parisian girl whose life looks set to unfold predictably and comfortably: she is recently engaged to the kind and utterly “appropriate” Pierre and has just been left a considerable fortune by her late aunt. However, things get thrown violently off course when Genevieve takes a trip to Dijon to claim her inheritance and, upon entering the wrong hotel room, discovers a man in the throes of a suicide attempt just in time to save him. The man is Renaud (Robert Hossain), a young, nihilistic army veteran with vast quantities of passion and an equal disregard for notions of love. What ensues is a dramatic, heated portrayal of the very human battle between love and ideals.
Sumptuous in its (definitively 60s) colour palette, the film is above all a homage to Bardot’s beauty and sexuality. Many a shot is devoted to her often scantily clad frame, and her flowing blonde waves, heavily lined, green-brown eyes and perfect lips prove as captivating as ever fifty years on.
The 50th anniversary release of Love on a Pillow, through Studio Canal, will be available on March 19.
Text by Daisy Woodward
