Launch of Professor Ginette Vincendeau's new book 'Brigitte Bardot'

Ginette Vincendeau, professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, whose book on Bardot has just been published, argues that the durability of BB’s allure makes her a more interesting cultural phenomenon than better actresses such as Catherine Deneuve or Jeanne Moreau.

In this original and illuminating study, Vincendeau explores the star's complex and revolutionary image of femininity, her film career and her lasting and controversial celebrity. Analysing all Bardot's output, encompassing popular comedies and melodramas, work with New Wave directors Louis Malle and Jean-Luc Godard, and international productions such as Dear Brigitte (1965) and Shalako (1968), Vincendeau shows how Bardot's enduring fame is based on her status as a sexual, lifestyle, musical, and fashion role model and even, in her guise as Marianne, the emblem of the French Republic, an icon of national identity. Finally, she considers the ageing Bardot's continued prominence in popular culture through her own writings and animal rights activism, arguing that, as well as a glamorous film star, Bardot was one of the inventors of modern celebrity.

To coincide with the launch of Ginette Vincendeau’s new book Brigitte Bardot (BFI, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), the Institut Francais is showing a short retrospective of Bardot’s key films. Entitled 'And Bardot became BB' it explores Brigitte Bardot’s image and significance.

Brigitte Bardot (BFI, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013),