Moviefone Editorial

Tag: Jean-Luc Godard

  • Screen Legend Brigitte Bardot Dies at 91

    Brigitte Bardot in the documentary 'Bardot'. Photo: RTL.
    Brigitte Bardot in the documentary ‘Bardot’. Photo: RTL.

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    • Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91.
    • She was a screen icon known for a variety of movie roles.
    • Bardot retired from her acting career to pursue activism.

    Brigitte Bardot, the French actress, singer, model and cultural force whose sensuality, spirit and later humanitarian zeal helped define modern cinema and public life, has died at the age of 91.

    Her passing was announced on Sunday by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, the animal-welfare organization she founded, which said it was with “immense sadness” that it confirmed her death.

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    Among Bardot’s most enduring credits are her roles in ‘…And God Created Woman,’ ‘Contempt,’ ‘The Truth’ and ‘Viva Maria!’, films that not only showcased her on-screen magnetism but helped reshape international perceptions of feminine freedom and beauty.

    Related Article:  It: Chapter 2’ & ‘The Wire’ Actor James Ransone Dies at the Age of 46

    Brigitte Bardot: Early Life and Career Beginnings

    Brigitte Bardot in 1956's 'And God Created Woman'. Photo: Cocinor.
    Brigitte Bardot in 1956’s ‘And God Created Woman’. Photo: Cocinor.

    Born on September 28, 1934, in Paris, Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot grew up in a conservative household before discovering dance and modeling in her teens.

    Her striking looks and effortless presence quickly brought her to the attention of filmmakers, and by 1956, at the age of 22, she had risen to global fame with Roger Vadim’s provocative ‘…And God Created Woman.’ The film’s success made her one of the most recognizable faces of post-war cinema and a symbol of sexual liberation.

    Brigitte Bardot: Film, Fashion, and Cultural Influence

    Brigitte Bardot in 1956's 'And God Created Woman'. Photo: Cocinor.
    Brigitte Bardot in 1956’s ‘And God Created Woman’. Photo: Cocinor.

    Bardot’s work in the late 1950s and 1960s spanned French art house and international productions. She collaborated with celebrated directors like Henri-Georges Clouzot, Louis Malle and Jean-Luc Godard, balancing roles in dramatic works such as ‘The Truth’ and ‘Contempt’ with lighter fare and international co-productions like ‘Shalako.’

    Brigitte Bardot: From Stardom to Activism

    Brigitte Bardot in the documentary 'Bardot'. Photo: RTL.
    Brigitte Bardot in the documentary ‘Bardot’. Photo: RTL.

    In 1973, Bardot retired from acting at just 39 years old, choosing instead to devote herself to animal rights. In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. Over decades, she campaigned passionately against practices such as seal hunting, animal testing and fur farming, channeling her fame into tangible advocacy for the voiceless.

    At the same time, Bardot’s outspokenness extended into politics, where her often controversial remarks and positions drew both support and criticism, leading to multiple legal convictions in France for inciting racial hatred. Her public life in later years was as complex as her film legacy.
    Voice and Values

    Bardot’s transition from screen goddess to activist reflected a powerful, if sometimes polarizing, personal evolution. Devoted to animal welfare with equal fervor to her early embrace of artistic freedom, she used her global stature to challenge cruelty and spotlight suffering. Her foundation continues that work, upholding the mission she championed for decades.

    Brigitte Bardot: Legacy

    Brigitte Bardot’s life, marked by beauty, rebellion and devotion, will be remembered as one that continually defied easy definition — and one that reshaped the contours of 20th-century culture forever.

    She is survived by her husband Bernard d’Ormale and her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.

    Brigitte Bardot in 1956's 'And God Created Woman'. Photo: Cocinor.
    Brigitte Bardot in 1956’s ‘And God Created Woman’. Photo: Cocinor.

    Selected Movies Featuring Brigitte Bardot:

    Buy Brigitte Bardot Movies and TV on Amazon

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  • Jean-Luc Godard Dies Aged 91

    Jean-Luc Godard on The Dick Cavett Show
    French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard on ‘The Dick Cavett Show.’

    Legendary French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has died. He was 91.

    Born in Paris in 1930, Godard then grew up and attended school in Nyon, on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. He returned to the French capital after finishing school in 1949 and began spending time in the intellectual “cine-clubs” that had sprung up in Paris following World War II.

    The clubs are where he met the likes of critic André Bazin and future fellow directors François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, and Jacques Rivette and are credited as the birthplace of the French New Wave.

    Godard is one of the few filmmakers who got his start on the critical side of the fence, writing for new publications such as Bazin’s Cahiers du Cinema. But far from sticking to arthouse fair, he championed traditional Hollywood movies and their creation, promoting the likes of Howard Hawks and Humphrey Bogart.

    And that reverence crept through when he began making his own movies, easing his way into the process by making a series of short films, all of which bore the hallmarks of his future work, featuring a loose, improvisational style.

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    That, of course, carried over to his first film, ‘À bout de souffle’ (better known here as ‘Breathless’), spawned from an idea that his colleague Truffaut had considered and abandoned, about a petty criminal and his girlfriend.

    The result – shot with a script that was generated day to day and in naturalistic fashion on the streets of Paris will little artificial lighting – became a cultural phenomenon, winning Godard Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival and launching a career that would be full of accolades and acclaim.

    Godard became a seminal filmmaker, cranking out movies in the 1960s and 1970s at a fast rate. His work burned with political fervor and opinion, while many films referenced Hollywood. Among this run included ‘Le Petit Soldat’, ‘A Woman Is a Woman’, ‘Contempt’, ‘Alphaville’, and more.

    Other movies included ‘Vivre Sa Vie’, ‘Pierrot le fou’, ‘In Praise of Love’, ‘Les enfants jouent à la Russie’, and a 1987 adaptation of ‘King Lear’.

    Directors and other filmmakers were quick to offer tributes, acknowledging how influential Godard had been for them and so many others.

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    And French President Emmanuel Macron also offered his thoughts: “It was like an apparition in French cinema,” he said. Then he became a master. Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We are losing a national treasure, a vision of genius.”

    He’ll be forever seen as a revolutionary, inspirational force in the world of movies, and Godard died peacefully at home. He’s survived by his wife, Anne-Marie Mieville.

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