She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including "Harley Davidson", "Je Me Donne A Qui Me Plait", "Bubble gum", "Contact", "Je Reviendrais Toujours Vers Toi", "L'Appareil A Sous", "La Madrague", "On Demenage", "Sidonie", "Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?", "Le Soleil De Ma Vie" (the cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life") and notorious "Je t'aime… moi non plus".
In 1952, she appeared on screen for the first time in Le Trou Normand. That same year, at age 18, she married director Roger Vadim, with whom she had been romantically involved for several years.
Although the European film industry was then in the ascendant, her personal rise was remarkable: she has been one of the few European actresses to receive mass media attention in the United States. She and Marilyn Monroe were the icons of female sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s and whenever she made public appearances in the United States the media hordes covered her every move.
Her films of the early and mid 1950s were lightweight romantic dramas, some of them historical, in which she was cast as ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. She played bit parts in three English-language films, the British comedy Doctor at Sea (1955), Helen of Troy (1954), in which she was understudy for the title-role but only appears as Helen's handmaid, and Act of Love (1954) with Kirk Douglas. Her French-language films were dubbed for international release. "She is every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris" said the film-critic Ivon Addams in 1955.
Vadim was not content with this light fare. The New Wave of French and Italian art directors and their stars were riding high internationally and he felt Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art-film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in And God Created Woman (1956) with Jean-Louis Trintignant.
The film, about an amoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a big international success. She may have had an affair with her co-star Trintignant, but this was more likely a pre-release publicity gimmick. The film is often wrongly described as her first film (it was her seventeenth) and to have launched her overnight, but it did help move her towards the cinematic mainstream.
It also ruled out a transition to Hollywood, where she was thought too risqué to handle. The Doris Day era was in still in full swing and even Jane Russell in The French Line (1953) had been thought to be going too far by showing her midriff. Erotica like Bardot's Cette sacrée gamine (That Crazy Kid, 1955) was considered fine at the box-office as long as it was clearly labelled "European". Bardot's limited English and strong accent, while beguiling to the ears of men, did not suit rapid-fire Hollywood scripts. In any event, staying in Europe benefited her image when the 1960s began to swing and Hollywood slipped into the background for a while, and Bardot was voted honorary sex-goddess of the decade.
Divorced from Vadim in 1957, she married actor Jacques Charrier (1959-62), by whom in 1960 she had her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier from whom she is estranged. She once referred to her only child as "a tumour". The marriage was preyed on by the paparazzi and there were clashes over the direction of Bardot's career. Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining to most of the world a glamour model.
Vie privée (1960), directed by Louis Malle has more than an element of autobiography in it. The scene in which, returning to her flat, Bardot's character is harangued in the lift by a middle-aged cleaning-lady calling her a tramp and a tart was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century.
Soon after, Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France and is now known to have attempted suicide, but as the sexual revolution of the early 1960s gathered momentum her lifestyle began to seem more like the norm and the pressure lifted. Through the sixties, she was happy to appear in glossy star-vehicles like Viva Maria (1969), to dabble in pop music and to play the role of glamour model and icon. In 1965 she appeared as herself in the Hollywood production Dear Brigitte starring Jimmy Stewart.
Her other husbands were German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs (1966-69), and French right-wing politician, Bernard d'Ormale (1992-present). She has also had reputed relationships with many men including singers Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In the late 1950s, she shared an exchange she considered “croiser de deux sillages” with writer John Gilmore, then an actor in France for a New Wave film to have starred Jean Seberg. Gilmore told Paris Match, “I felt a beautiful warmth with Bardot but found it difficult to discuss things to any depth whatsoever”.
She is recognised for popularising bikini swimwear in early films such as Manina (Woman without a Veil, 1952) and in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots. She even sported an early version of the monokini from time to time. Though this was not considered extraordinary in France, it was considered nearly scandalous in the US. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her and she joined Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, in becoming a subject for Andy Warhol paintings.
In 1970, the sculptor Alain Gourdon used Bardot as the model for a bust of Marianne, the French national emblem.
Mentions of Bardot in music
The first song to reference Brigitte Bardot was "Gimme' that Wine" by vocalese group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross on the Columbia label in 1960.
Indie singer Jordan Galland also has a song called "Brigitte Bardot". In 1966, Harry Belafonte recorded "Zombie Jamboree" which has an entire verse dedicated to Brigitte Bargot.
Bardot has also been referenced in many other songs, including "I Shall Be Free" (Bob Dylan), "We Didn't Start the Fire" (Billy Joel), "Message of Love" (The Pretenders), "I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself" (Elton John), "Warlocks" (Red Hot Chili Peppers), "You Went The Wrong Way, Old King Louie" (Allan Sherman), "You're My Favourite Star" (The Bellamy Brothers), "It's Not Enough" (The Who), "Contempt" (Silkworm), "Big Wedge" (Fish),"Brigitte Bardot" (Tom Zé), "Alegria, Alegria" (Caetano Veloso), "Loaded" (ZZ Top), "Brigitte Bardot" (Creature), "Bardot" (Marden Hill), "Shir Nevu'i Cosmi Aliz" (Yoni Rechter & Eli Mohar), "Smiles Like Richard Nixon" (The Bad Examples), "Bijou" (Stew), "Stratford-On-Guy" (Liz Phair), and "Brigitte Bardot T.N.T." (Pizzicato Five).
Le Diable Est Anglais
Brigitte Bardot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Et tu voudrais bien savoir comment je le sais
Je te le dirai si tu me promets
De ne pas le répéter car c'est un secret
Moi je l'ai vu remonter Carnaby Street
Je l'ai suivi et je sais où il habite
Où sur chaque porte est inscrit satan and co
Il exporte sous forme de cadeau
Tout ce qui est interdit et qu'il connaît trop
Il est ici il est partout à la fois
Il est si beau que tu n'en reviendrais pas
Quand je te dis que le diable est anglais
Et qu'il viendra me chercher quand je le voudrais
Tu ne me crois pas et pourtant c'est vrai
Mais entre nous tu peux penser ce qu'il te plait
Moi je m'en vais mon passeport est déjà prêt
Et si ce n'est pas le diable alors qui c'est?
Je te parie que le diable est anglais
Et tu voudrais bien savoir comment je le sais
The lyrics of Brigitte Bardot's "Le diable est anglais" explore the idea that the devil is English. The singer makes a bet with someone that the devil is, in fact, English, and goes on to explain how she knows this to be true. According to the lyrics, the singer claims to have seen the devil walking on Carnaby Street and followed him to where he lives, a building that is 100 meters high with the sign "satan and co" on every door. The devil is depicted as someone who exports forbidden things that he is familiar with in the form of gifts. The singer ends the song by saying that her passport is ready and she is prepared to leave, stating that if it's not the devil, then who else could it be?
The lyrics of the song are not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a metaphor for the perceived sinfulness and hedonism of English culture, which was especially prevalent during the 1960s when the song was released. Carnaby Street was regarded as the epicenter of British cool, and the song uses this as a backdrop to portray the devil as someone who is present in the heart of English culture, tempting people with forbidden pleasures. Through this metaphorical lens, the song suggests that the devil is not just a biblical figure but is also present in contemporary society, and that he is English.
Overall, "Le diable est anglais" is a playful and provocative song that uses metaphor and irony to comment on English culture and its perceived moral decay.
Line by Line Meaning
Je te parie que le diable est anglais
I bet you that the devil is English
Et tu voudrais bien savoir comment je le sais
And you would like to know how I know that
Je te le dirai si tu me promets
I will tell you if you promise me
De ne pas le répéter car c'est un secret
Not to repeat it because it's a secret
Moi je l'ai vu remonter Carnaby Street
I saw him go up Carnaby Street
Je l'ai suivi et je sais où il habite
I followed him and I know where he lives
Dans un building de 100 mètres de haut
In a 100-meter tall building
Où sur chaque porte est inscrit satan and co
Where 'Satan and Co' is written on every door
Il exporte sous forme de cadeau
He exports as gifts
Tout ce qui est interdit et qu'il connaît trop
All that's forbidden and he knows too well
Il est ici il est partout à la fois
He is here he is everywhere at once
Il est si beau que tu n'en reviendrais pas
He is so beautiful you won't believe it
Quand je te dis que le diable est anglais
When I say that the devil is English
Et qu'il viendra me chercher quand je le voudrais
And that he will come get me when I want him to
Tu ne me crois pas et pourtant c'est vrai
You don't believe me, yet it's true
Mais entre nous tu peux penser ce qu'il te plait
But between us, you can think what you want
Moi je m'en vais mon passeport est déjà prêt
I'm leaving, my passport is already prepared
Et si ce n'est pas le diable alors qui c'est?
And if it's not the devil, then who is it?
Writer(s): Jean Max Riviere, Gerard Robert Edouard Bourgeois
Contributed by Ian L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sebagón
¡Espectacular!