Babette se va a la guerra

The fifties were not such a bad era in Christian-Jaque's career: the critics do not claim for those works ;yet they included two truly superb films "Fanfan La Tulipe" and "Si Tous Les Gars Du Monde" ;and the others are certainly inoffensive ,with a special mention for "Souvenirs Perdus" .

Coming after two rather undistinguished works ("Nathalie" and "La Loi C'est La Loi" the latter could have been better ,had it been directed by an Italian director) "Babette " is an entertaining flick ;it's only a modest little comedy but some of his aspects predate several movies of the sixties..

First of all the writer is Gerard Oury and the movie looks like a blueprint for his own "La Grande Vadrouille" (compare the endings).Inspired by Billy Wilder's "stalag 17" "Papa Schulz" epitomizes the dumb German with a lot of overplaying by Francis Blanche.

Brigitte Bardot plays for the first time the bubble head girl -but not so stupid in the end- and I cannot think of another actress portraying this kind of character with so much naturalness ;she would continue in that vein in Malle's "Viva Maria" ,a success,and sadly,in two dismal efforts :Guy Casaril's "Les Novices" and Christian-Jaque's own doomed "Les Pétroleuses" .

"Babette" was a movie which showed the bright side of the occupied country although the duke considers the General De Gaulle a deserter and an enemy.Christian-Jaque painted a nastier portrait of the country in his last good film " Le Repas Des Fauves" which to this day has remained ignored or despised.Babette is French-are -all-resistant-fighters run of the mill and it's BB herself who carries the movie on her shoulders:all she has to do is act naturally and she pulls it off with gusto.From the naive girl who comes to work in a place recommended by a shameless cousin(the place is a brothel but the girl hasn't got a clue) to the brunette Hilde who can't ride a horse without screaming-in her memoirs BB would write that ,although she loved animals ,she was a poor rider ,notably in "Les Petroleuses".

Jacques Charrier was BB's then-husband and is featured as a handsome French officer,with whom,on a train,a gay German soldier falls in love ,having seen his photograph;In this scene,Michel Audiard comes up with many fine lines ;there are fine moments too ,when Babette talks with the whores on the boat en route to England .

It cannot be looked upon as a major achievement for the highly talented Christian-Jaque ,but it's really a lot a fun to watch it!

NB:Gilbert Becaud wrote the score.The (not featured in the movie) "Marche De Babette"aka "Quand On Est Militaire" song was a big hit in France circa 1960

With the film "Babette s'en va-t-en guerre," directed by Christian Jaque, Brigitte attempted to break out of the mold that her previous roles had forged...

Here she played opposite Jacques Charrier, with their ensuing real-life romance and marriage serving to fuel the fires of their already overwhelming publicity… Though Bardot wore a uniform in this movie, the idea as a whole was not enough to carry the film… It was, in fact, Francis Blanche playing a Nazi officer who triumphed…

Later that year, Brigitte and Michel Boisrond met again to film a detective yarn called "Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" Bardot had become an international star, but, unfortunately, French cinema seemed to have trouble taking full advantage of her drawing power

It takes some time to get used to, but 'Babette s'en van-t-en guerre' (> Babette goes to war) is a Bardot-movie without sex. Back in 1959 Brigitte wanted to prove that she could carry on without, and so she did.

This movie is family-entertainment. A light comedy, with a convincing principal role by Brigitte Bardot. Although its very French concept is clearly outdated now, 'Babette' surely must have appealed to the (European) public taste of the fifties and sixties. A time whem memories of world war II were still vivid.

What remains today, is 'Babette's' freshness and warmth. If you are prepared to go back in time, this movie still entertains.

If you are a Bardot fan, you'll be pleased watching sashaying her various sexy attires, but that is, alas, the only draw of this very silly movie. It is not particularly funny either, and makes for a generally tedious watch.