…And God Created Woman [Et Dieu… Créa la Femme] *** (1956, Brigitte Bardot, Curd Jürgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christian Marquand, Georges Poujouly) – Classic Movie Review 8,792

Brigitte Bardot became an overnight sensation as a voluptuous immoral teenager seducing men in Saint-Tropez, in Roger Vadim’s 1956 French film …And God Created Woman [Et Dieu… Créa la Femme].

And the 21-year-old Brigitte Bardot stripped off at the French Riviera seaside at St Tropez and became an overnight sensation in director Roger Vadim’s otherwise only mildly interesting 1956 film …And God Created Woman [Et Dieu… Créa la Femme].

Bardot stars as a voluptuous immoral teenage girl called Juliete Hardy, bicycle-riding nymphet cavorting in a bikini, who is unable to resist the allure of sexually preoccupied men like older, wealthy Eric Carradine (Curt Jurgens), Michel Tardieu (Jean-Louis Trintignant), Antoine Tardieu (Christian Marquand) and Christian Tardieu (Georges Poujouly). Basking in her natural sensuality, lying nude sunning in her yard and wandering barefoot, she seduces the admiring men in the respectable small-town setting of Saint-Tropez, while infuriating the local women.

Bardot’s career highspot is generally well acted by the game performers and Vadim makes Saint-Tropez look nearly as pretty as Bardot. Jean-Louis Trintignant made his critical and commercial breakthrough in the film as Michel Tardieu, in his second year in the movies.

Also in the cast are Jane Marken, Paul Faivre, Jean Tissier, Isabelle Corey, Jean Lefebvre, Marie Glory, Jany Mourey and Jacqueline Ventura.

Bardot and Vadim were married from 1952 till their divorce in 1957. By 1956 Vadim was an established screenwriter and had written several movies starring Bardot. Producer Raoul Levy asked him to write and direct a film starring her. Vadim’s directorial debut created her sex kitten persona and made her an overnight sensation.

…And God Created Woman [Et Dieu… Créa la Femme], is directed by Roger Vadim, runs 95 minutes, is made by Cocinor, Iéna Productions, Union Cinématographique Lyonnaise (UCIL) is released by Cocinor (1956) (France), Kingsley-International Pictures (1957) (US) (subtitled) and Miracle Films (1957) (UK) (subtitled), is written by Roger Vadim and Raoul Lévy, is shot in Eastmancolor by Armand Thirard, is produced by Raoul Lévy, is scored by Paul Misraki and is designed by Jean André.

Vadim remade it as And God Created Woman in 1988 with Rebecca De Mornay and a new story.

Georges Poujouly

Georges Poujouly (1940-2000) was also known for playing Soudieu, one of the pupils, in Les Diaboliques (1955) and for Lift to the Scaffold [Elevator to the Gallows] (1958), as well as Roger Vadim’s Vice and Virtue (1963) and René Clément’s Is Paris Burning? [Paris brûle-t-il?] (1966). He won international acclaim as a child actor in René Clément’s award-winning 1952 film Jeux Interdits [Forbidden Games].

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Jean-Louis Trintignant died at his home on 17 June 2022, at the age of 91.

Trintignant’s notable films include And God Created Woman (1956), The Sleeping Car Murders (1965), A Man and a Woman (1966), The Great Silence (1968), The Man Who Lies, Costa-Gavras’s Z, My Night at Maud’s (1969), The Conformist (1970), Three Colours: Red (1994), The City of Lost Children (1995), and Amour (2012).

Jean-Louis Trintignant won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival for Costa-Gavras’s Z. He won the 2013 César Award for Best Actor for Michael Haneke’s Amour.

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot retired in 1973 after acting in 47 films at the age of 39 and has since been involved with various animal rights causes. She achieved international fame for And God Created Woman (1956), and later starred in Clouzot’s La Vérité (1960), Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris (1963) and Louis Malle’s Viva Maria! (1965).

She died in Toulon in southern France on 28 December 2025, aged 91.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8792

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