Friday, September 28, 2007

And God Created Bardot


Yes, today is Brigitte Bardot's birthday, so I've been working on this caricature to celebrate the occasion. It depicts her as she posed rather saucily for the opening sequence of her 1968 TV special. This special as well as two earlier ones from 1961 and 1963 can be found on this DVD. In fact, here is the sequence that I used to sketch from that somebody has also posted on YouTube:



These TV specials were a collection of fun musical vignettes that showcased Brigitte Bardot's talents as a French pop singer. I probably know her better in this capacity than I know her as a film star, admittedly having only seen a handful of her films. The early 60's was a great time for French pop music, as there were also cute singers like Francoise Hardy and France Gall on the music scene back then, both of whose CDs I listen to in addition to Brigitte's. In fact, I highly recommend checking out Katie Rice's blog to see her sketches of those singers. Katie is such a talented young cartoonist and I love to see the way she approaches caricature. I'm hoping she'll also try her hand at drawing Brigitte!

Like I said, I haven't seen many of Brigitte Bardot's films. I have seen her big breakout role in "And God Created Woman", where she plays a gorgeous, saucy young ne'er-do-well who seems cursed to inspire mad desire in every man she encounters in St. Tropez. I also enjoyed her in "Viva Maria", which has an almost cartoonish flair for slapstick visual humour. However, I think my favourite Bardot film is one that I caught at Toronto's Cinematheque several years ago, called "The Truth", in which she plays a young woman on trial for the murder of her lover. It's quite compelling and Brigitte gives a magnificent performance. Alas, I must admit I've never seen "Contempt". Anyway, I really think I need to see more of her work so that I can fully appreciate her as an actress in addition to my fondness for her as a pop singer.

So in closing, may I say, Bon Anniversaire Brigitte!

4 comments:

Juanma said...

Hola Pete did�nt know you were a blogger, but i came lookin for that rat pack cartoon that kills me everytime i see it.
great to know you�re here amongst us.

Nostalgia Kinky said...

Beautiful work...I will always love and admire this woman. Hate that I have been out of town and missed blogging on her birthday.
The DVD of her musical shows is one of my all time favorites. She just bleeds talent and charisma...I really admire your artwork...thanks for posting...

Pete Emslie said...

I knew you were a Bardot fan, Jeremy, so I'm glad you like the caricature. When it comes right down to it, Brigitte had a rather unusual beauty. Her teeth were not model perfect and she was slightly wall-eyed, but there is an undeniably gorgeous face there with all its imperfections. I really enjoy all those musical vignettes she did that were an early forerunner of MTV-style music videos. Her song, "Comic Strip" with Serge Gainsbourg is a hoot!

jose hosel [old raffin] said...

christ, yes...i've been in love with bardot since forever..