Voulez-vous danser avec moi?

This and another early Brigitte Bardot vehicle, UNE PARISIENNE (1957), had been available for rental at a local DVD store for a long time but I kept postponing getting to either, believing them to be minor frothy affairs; however, having just acquired and being on the point of watching a similar effort of hers – Marc Allegret's MADEMOISELLE STRIPTEASE aka PLUCKING THE DAISY (1956) – I thought I might as well check them out too while I am at it. Anyway, I opted to start with this one being ostensibly a thriller and, while I was expecting it to involve some nudity from the star (which technically there is none), I was surprised – especially when considering the film's essentially light touch – at the amount of sleaze on display (from explicit situations and dialogue to a subplot involving gay bars and drag queens!). The premise, in fact, revolves around the Police investigation into the murder of blackmailing dance teacher Dawn Addams; incidentally, the Inspector on the trail of the assassin is Luis Bunuel regular Paul Frankeur and Serge Gainsbourg, popular yet controversial singer/songwriter and later film-maker, makes an early appearance as the victim's accomplice (photographing her in compromising positions with wealthy patrons). Their latest victim is dentist Henri Vidal (whose last film this proved to be, expiring from a heart attack at the young age of 40 – he was married to star Michele Morgan, having met on the set of his best-remembered movie i.e. the Italian spectacle FABIOLA [1948]); Bardot is his wife, whose father (Noel Roquevert, from a number of H.G. Clouzot titles) is an industrialist. Vidal had run into Addams at a nightclub after a row with his bride: she even goes to his clinic, where Bardot works as his assistant, and supplies him with incriminating photos of their dalliance. On his part, not intending to pay, he visits Addams at her studio and causes a scene – but then relents and makes an appointment for the next day at the same place; when he arrives, Vidal finds the woman dead and is then surprised in the room by Bardot who had followed him there! Of course, he has to confess everything and though Roquevert does not readily believe him, Bardot does and determines to establish his innocence (since his description was given to the Police by Addams' dance colleagues) by finding the real killer. To this end, she takes a job as a dance teacher there and even ingratiates herself with Frankeur; incidentally, it appears that the killer could not have exited the room before Vidal's entrance as there is no other way out: this actually reminds Bardot of the Gaston Leroux novel "The Mystery Of The Yellow Room" (whose 1930 film adaptation by Marcel L'Herbier, along with its sequel THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK – nothing whatsoever to do with the atypical Italian giallo from 1974 – I have also just gotten my hands on!) and from here on in, as the saying goes, the plot thickens. Despite the generic and downright misleading title, this is a fairly enjoyable picture (especially easy to take in pleasant color); mind you, the suspense reaches no great heights (given that the murder method is given away all too soon and the motive emerges to be characteristically weak) – and, yet, the viewer's attention is engaged throughout and one is genuinely curious to discover the guilty party's identity (what with the variety of suspects being fingered along the way).

Brigitte Bardot was so completely feminine, playful, beautiful, and witty, she couldn't miss connecting with the male sector of any movie-going audience. And the women must have hated her, or at least envied her to tears.

Bardot's face is so luminous, focusing upon it is more stimulating than seeing close-up, revealing body shots of her contemporaries such as Eckberg and Lollobrigida. She could take a mediocre, or in this case, convoluted plot, and save a film which would have been a dud with just about any other female star.

The film is fast-paced, and suspenseful, in so far as the futility of trying to guess the culprit's identity, prior to the odds and ends being tied up neatly, in the end. And it far surpasses Bardot's collaboration with director Michel Boisrond, in "Mme. Pigalle," produced three years earlier. That one is filled with artifice and "mannerisms." such as fake auto rides, background landscape fakery, lip-synch singing, fake piano playing, and the stereotypical bumbling, "moronic cops" syndrome, so prevalent in films of the time. This film contains no artifice, or editing "tricks," whatsoever, and while it lacks for substance, it is entertaining, and the Bardot charisma at this most appealing stage of her life, stays with one, long after the curtain rings down.

Henri Vidal, in his final role before his untimely death at age 40, is well-cast, as Bardot's husband who is being blackmailed by femme fatale Dawn Addams, herself a red-headed stunner who exits the film much too soon to suit the male voyeur contingent.

********

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.

I just want to take note of the great Serge's Gainsbourg stunning appearance, short but classic! "L'homme a la-Tete-De-choux" enters with class, sets his line, and the rest is history...Check out Gainsbourg the artist: jazzman, musician, singer, poet, provocateur, precursor of rap, pop idol, eighties cult, through his musical career. Not to mention Brigitte Bardot in all of her splendor, a must see for any BB fan (check out the song "Bonnie and Clyde" for another Bardot/Gainsbourg collaboration). Good stay-at-home and somewhat suspenseful movie. Worth watching. I found this movie very enjoyable, definitely not a classic, but reminiscent of the pre-60's French thrillers.

Brigitte Bardot lights up the screen (while keeping her threads on mostly) as a wife who plans to clear her husband's name while working at a dance studio..and she can really mambo. Very complicated plot, but well-paced. Hits some night spots which few films did at the time (cross-dressing) with overall decent acting and beautiful color.

A 6 out of 10. Best performance = BB. The guy who played BB's husband (the dentist) died right after this. He was married to Michele Morgan, I believe. Brigitte is sexy, intelligent, fun, dilligent, and focused in this surprising little gem (without being art). Dawn Addams is an added treat. The DVD copy I watched was clear as a bell which many of Ms. Bardot's film transfers are not. Seek it out for an interesting and fun surprise.