Voulez-vous danser avec moi?

"Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" (= French for 'do you want to dance with me?'), shows competent acting in a well-built crime plot.

Set in color in the late 1950-s, this film openly deals with the Paris homo & travesty scene. Which was pretty groundbreaking for the staunch Roman Catholic France of those days.

Brigitte Bardot's appearance in "Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" shines all the way down. Showing off her dancing talents (you may know Brigitte qualified at the Paris conservatory as a classical ballet dancer). While shooting this film, Brigitte was pregnant with her only child -- according to some this shows off in her advantage as well. The third show-off is made by Brigitte's dress in a cross-striped pattern - known to this day in fashion as the 'Brigitte Bardot - design'.

In spite of her dazzling appearance, one cannot escape the conclusion that Bardot plays the wrong part here. Apart from being beautiful, Brigitte has a definite talent for light comedy. Acting crime & mystery just isn't her trade.

My last words should be for male lead Henri Vidal. In December 1959, aged 40, he died from a heart attack. This happened shortly after the completion of "Voulez-vous danser avec moi?".

This well-made movie just has one flaw: Brigitte Bardot is not suited for playing a crime plot. As her talents are with light comedy, she is not able to carry out the necessary mystery, horror and suspense here.

For this reason I think 'Voulez-vous danser avec moi?' not entirely convincing. But apart from that, it's quite entertaining. It is shot well, its acting is good, and its story catches the viewer's interest from beginning to end. Of course your special attention for the scenes in the dance-school, fully displaying Brigitte's excellent dancing skills.

This movie also seriously deals with homosexuality, back in 1959 a groundbreaking issue. For this reason I guess Paris must have been the only location possible.

After a discussion with his spoiled wife Virginie (Brigitte Bardot), the playboy dentist Hervé Dandieu (Henri Vidal) goes to a bar where he meets the sexy dance teacher Anita Flores (Dawn Addams). She invites Hervé to dance with her and while dancing, his father-in-law arrives in the place and Hervé sneaks out with Anita. Hervé drives Anita home, and she invites him to have one last drink; Anita seduces him and they kiss each other on the sofa, while her hidden partner takes pictures of the intimacy of the couple. Hervé leaves Anita without having sex, but is blackmailed by her. She schedules a meeting with him in the dance school, but Virginie listens to their conversation and believes that Hervé is cheating her. Virginie is snoops Hervé in the dance school, and he finds Anita dead and becomes the prime suspect of the police. Virginie asks for a job in the dance school and decides to investigate the case by her own.

The silly and naive "Voulez-vous Danser Avec Moi?" has a predictable screenplay and is supported by the charm and beauty of Brigitte Bardot. Dawn Addams has a minor participation, but she is astonishing with her blues eyes and beauty. In the end, forget this flawed story and enjoy Brigitte Bardot acting like a detective and Dawn Addams that you will have a nice entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Quer Dançar Comigo?" ("Do You Want to Dance with Me?")

This film begins with Brigitte Bardot falling in love with a dentist (Henri Vidal) and they soon marry. Soon after, he is seduced by a lady and goes back to her apartment. He begins to undress her and stops himself--he can't allow himself to cheat on his bride. He immediately leaves--not knowing that she is a blackmailer and her lover was photographing them in some very compromising positions. This begs the audience to wonder if any man can be THAT stupid and self-destructive, as at the time, Bardot was probably the most beautiful woman in the world (and, yes, I know there ARE men who cheat on their loving wives all the time--even if it makes no sense).

Soon, the lady blackmailer shows up at the Dentist's office and demands money for the photos. A sane man would come clean to his wife right there and then, but this would also make for a VERY short film, so he agrees to meet her later at her dance studio. The poor husband plans on killing the woman but before he can, she's already dead--apparently she has created a lot of enemies! Brigitte arrives soon after him, as she'd overheard the two talking earlier and wondered what was happening between them. Both Bardot and her hubby flee to avoid the police.

Bardot believes her husband when he tells her what happened. However, someone saw him at the studio and the police have a good description of him. So, to save her dumb husband, Brigitte decides to go undercover--and goes to the dance studio to ask for a job. Perhaps someone there knows what happened or was responsible for the killing. And, as this is only about thirty minutes into the film, you can safely assume that SOMETHING will occur sooner or later! This part of the film seemed well-suited for Bardot, as she was an exceptional dancer in real life.

Where the film goes next is pleasant but there aren't too many surprises. Plus, while I like Bardot, this film seemed only okay--nothing special but also not bad in any particular way. The writing is decent, the acting just fine but apart from the role played by a gay transvestite, the rest of the film just seemed ordinary. Non-Bardot fans can skip this one--it's just among her best.

By the way, like many French films of the era, this one if pretty frank about sex and sexuality. You will see some nudity it's obviously quite different from the sort of fare coming out of Hollywood at the same time!

"Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" intends to be a light-minded humoristic thriller. As a matter of fact, it is very easy to realize "who done it", and the humor of the script is rather poor. Moreover in the plot one finds several flaws, too evident even for a movie with no pretension of likelihood.

Well, the preceding remarks have no relevance at all. Indeed, here we have a twenty-five-years-old Brigitte Bardot, folks! In Italy "Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" was entitled "Sexy Girl", a coarse and totally unsuited choice, we all agree about it... but... but in the movie Brigitte IS a sexy girl, you can bet your head on it. The film is just a long (and very welcome) promotion of her earthquake-like sex-appeal: among uncountable instances, look at her dancing...

After all, it is interesting to see a movie like "Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" to realize why, despite the low quality of many films featuring BB at the beginning of her career, people fought to get tickets to see Brigitte on the screen. And when she showed herself in flesh... according to BB's auto-biography, there was an explosion of riots, in France and in Italy and in Spain. See this movie and you will easily trust this statement of the French screen-legend.

A due final remark: also Dawn Addams gives a relevant contribution of beauty and charm to the bliss of the audience. All this considered, 90 minutes to view this movie are not wasted at all.