REVIEW: Love on A Pillow

Directed by Roger Vadim. Starring Brigitte Bardot & Robert Hossein.

Like many men in the 1950s and 1960s, I was first attracted to this title because of its star blond, Brigitte Bardot. This Paris-born sex-kitten who began her career at 14 as a model has lived a life of drama and trauma and glamour and glitz that tabloids crave. Her troubled history is riddled with tales of young, unrequited love, early abortions, suicidal tendencies and attempts, cancer diagnosis and survival, animal activism, racial slurs and numerous divorces… all of which makes her that much more appealing – even to the same sex.

The story goes that Bardot was discovered by director Roger Vadim (whom she would later marry, then divorce) whilst he was flipping through a magazine. A tear of the previous page revealed the 14 year-old beauty and thus, her film career began. Over the next three decades Bardot flaunted her bombshell looks into and out of film and has since been immortalised as a fashion icon.

Love On A Pillow, otherwise known as Warrior’s Rest,is one of Bardot’s earliest efforts and comes six years after she appeared in the film that shot her and Vadim into stardom, And God Created Woman (AGCW).

Love was a reunion between the broken couple and one that many believed to be an attempt to recreate the reception of AGCW and further their separate careers. Considering the film has been shelved into obscurity, I think it’s safe to say that the Vadim-Bardot formula only works once.

Don’t get me wrong, the film opens with promise. Straight-laced Parisian and budding business entrepreneur Genevieve Le Theil (Bardot) is travelling toDijonto claim her inheritance from her recently deceased aunt. But after stopping for a night’s respite in a randomly chosen hotel, she accidentally opens the door of Renaud Sarti (Robert Hossein), a mysterious man who’s just attempted suicide. Like the prude that she is, Genevieve runs to the manager proclaiming his luck that she misheard her room number for he could have had a larger problem on his hands had she not been there. Saved and grateful, Renaud is oddly released into Genevieve’s care and within minutes his bohemian nature grows on her. She grows blithe and introspective and in response he reveals a belligerence, masochism and alcoholic addiction that threaten to end their relationship. Despite his insolence, Genevieve clings on, her promising future fading into the distance.

Unfortunately, promise is short lived and the story turns sour as early as the couple’s first romantic encounter. It is odd, cold, unconvincing and displays so little spark that we’d still be living in the Dark Ages if we depended on it for survival. The couple’s ensuing sexual encounters aren’t much better. Instead of impressing character development and a well-rounded storyline, Vadim puts all his efforts into playing on Bardot’s sexuality as if it were a drum, beating it harder and harder when all that’s required is silence. Where the world was captured by the carefree way she embraced her sexuality in AGCW as she danced on a table, Bardot flaunting her figure in front of a fireplace, behind a vacuum cleaner and under the sheets in Love On A Pillow just doesn’t have the same appeal. Has she lost her charm? Or does the fact that the scenes are so blatantly an abuse of her body that they borderline on C-grade porn strip all her allure?

Novelties and publicity stunts aside, where Love On A Pillow shines is in its cinematography. Artfully filmed scenes sport illuminating 60s techni-colour and are crafted with unparalleled balance and classic throes of evocation. A memorable scene finds itself in a minute of fantasy; Genevieve has picked up a cigarette, her doleful eyes are wide and her lips puckered. She puffs gently and her profile is silhouetted by the morning light. It is a picture perfect moment for the senses and a redeeming feature for this French film. It’s a shame Vadim was too busy looking under the sheets for the most of it to notice the potential beauty that lay right in front of him.

Love On A Pillow is released on Monday the 19th of March, priced £11.99.

Originally published on 18 March 2012 for 2012 Movies