150. Mourning a legend of the century

I never imagined that instead of celebrating the 150th article here, I'd have to write an obituary.

This morning, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation announced the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, the actress and singer who left her illustrious career to devote her life and efforts to animal welfare. She has died aged 91.

Reading the message instantly reminded me of the 1956 film 'And God Created Woman.'

It’s good if you have seen the film; otherwise, watch it tonight on YouTube. Observe Bardot portraying an uninhibited teenager, a role that transformed her into an international icon. It was written and directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim.

Another film that comes to mind is Doctor at Sea (1955), in which she portrayed Dirk Bogarde’s love interest. Both were released before I was born, and I watched them much later in life.

In the early 1960s, Bardot appeared in several notable French films, including the Oscar-nominated The Truth, Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, and Shalako, starring Sean Connery.

In 1969, Bardot was chosen as the first real-life model for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.

However, Bardot found the pressures of fame increasingly bothersome and remarked, “The chaos around me always felt surreal. I was never truly ready for the life of a star.” 

She was at her peak in 1973, when she announced her retirement from acting at age 39 and became increasingly politically active, primarily as an outspoken animal rights advocate, establishing the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.

But my sadness and the writing of her obituary are not due to her films or acting skills. Instead, I admired her as an intellectually driven woman who always expressed her own thoughts after careful consideration, speaking with conviction and logic. She was truly a forward-thinking woman. She saw the future.

There is not a single individual in the Indian film industry with whom she could be compared. Here, they often strive to be politically correct if they have their own minds, and if not, they make foolish, illogical remarks, mistakenly believing themselves to be real stars who have descended to this earth, which they are not.

Now, I will share the aspects I admire. 

First, I have read Simone de Beauvoir’s famous 1960s article, “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome,” which was written brilliantly. Still, in a very different context where she had no role, the character she portrayed did. I've never encountered an article that thoroughly analyses an actress, examining not only her diverse on-screen roles but also her unique personality.

Just read a paragraph from that: “The publicity that has built up a legend around Brigitte Bardot has, for a long time, identified her with this childlike and disturbing character. Vadim presented her as ‘a phenomenon of nature’. ‘She doesn’t act,’ he said. ‘She exists.’ ‘That’s right,’ confirmed BB. ‘The Juliette in And God Created Woman is exactly me. When I’m in front of the camera, I’m simply myself.’ 

Simone de Beauvoir portrayed the actor as France’s most liberated woman. 

Secondly, Bardot’s remarks on Islam, homosexuality, and immigration are original. Still, they led to several convictions for inciting racial hatred, and she was fined by French courts six times for her comments, particularly those targeting France’s Muslim community. She was against the Islamisation of French society. 

She famously described Muslims as “this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts,” and her insight is now being confirmed as France recognises this 20 years later, just as she predicted.

Even as an actress, she was an inspiration to French intellectuals and artists. The young John Winston Lennon, the musician and his songwriting partner, Paul McCartney, demanded that their then-girlfriends dye their hair blond in imitation of her. 

As I have said many times, there are men and women who make this world livable for us because they are part of our own personal universe. 

Losing one is like losing a star from our personal universe because they are irreplaceable. 

Today, like many around the globe, I lost one of mine.