Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...

A veritable orgy of campy decor and even campier dialogue ("If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being treated the way I treat other people!") this would-be erotic extravaganza stars an ageing and puffy Brigitte Bardot as a jet-set nymphomaniac - who fancies herself a reincarnation of the 16th century Spanish seducer. Both the film and its heroine labour under the delusion of being a whole lot sexier than they really are.

The "plot" (I use the term loosely) involves Bardot confessing to a dishy priest (Mathieu Carriere) how she drove one of her lovers to suicide. Half an hour into this mess, and you'll know how the poor b**tard felt. Undaunted by the tedium around her, Bardot seduces a married lawyer (Maurice Ronet) and they jet off to Sweden, supposed Paradise of Free Love. (Never mind if the Bacchanalian revels we SEE are no more steamy than your average Sunday school picnic.)

On a boat train to London, Bardot enjoys a lesbian frolic with the young and nubile wife (Jane Birkin) of a sleazy gangster (Robert Hossein). How the sight of Bardot and Birkin, nude in bed together, could be turned into such a non-event is still beyond me. No matter. Bardot sets her insatiable sights on a hippie musician played by Robert Walker, Jr. Yes, he's the son of Bruno from Strangers on a Train and 40s icon Jennifer Jones...although talent HAS been known to skip a generation.

Granted, Don Juan '73 is an abysmal movie, but there is fun to be had. Birkin looks heart-meltingly gorgeous and Ronet even tries to do some acting - though why he should bother when nobody else does is one of life's mysteries. Anyone who shares my weakness for bouffant hairdos, zebra-skin rugs and purple velvet flares will probably enjoy it. Still, the final impression is of Vadim, after 15 years as a high-style provocateur, struggling to keep up with a Flower Power audience. Is there any sight sadder than hipster who's been out-hipped?

David Melville

Some reviewers seem not to notice the golden irony that BB, who was ready to quit acting without needing a swansong, chose a vehicle, the value of which she could not fail to comprehend, in which men commit suicide after making love to BB. She is natural and resigned to the penultimate finale of her career. Maurice Ronet acquits himself perfectly as the torn antihero. He is the perfect foil to her underplayed and subtle excesses. This film didn't need any association with Don Juan to work more than adequately on several levels. Not only does it excel in irony but also in theatrical sarcasm with the 'God created woman' embroiled in a hellish inferno in a finale of post-modern design, her nemesis entombed in what might be an analogy for shifting sands. I feel that, in life, she was always lost, this belief reinforced when we exchanged pleasantries in Cannes in 1969.

Brigitte Bardot must have had a very strong personality to make "and God created woman" the smash hit it was at the end of the fifties.Vadim/Bardot,it's Pygmalion in reverse :an actress who had un petit je ne sais quoi who created the worst director of the whole nouvelle vague.Vadim made half a dozen of movies with BB,each one lousier than the one before.This one takes the biscuit:not only a good cast is wasted (Robert Hossein,Matthieu Carrière,Maurice Ronet,Jane Birkin)but most of the time ,the movie and BB's lines are unintentionally funny:how can we take seriously this priest ,BB's cousin?the macho Hossein and his wife who discovers Sapphic pleasures with Jeanne/Don Juan?

One cannot even call this farce "woman's lib" because Jeanne is chastised for having been a bad gal,like the true Don Juan.

NB:It's BB last real film;afterwards,she was to appear in a small part in "l'histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise"(1973),which, in spite of its title ,was neither "très bonne" nor "très joyeuse".Then it was silence.Outside Garbo ,there's no other example of an actress ,still young (BB was 39),who calls it quits at such an early age.She became an animal rights activist -and still is-.

Ms don juan (in the us ) aka don juan ou si don juan était une femme. Brigitte bardot had been married to roger vadim, the director of this film, back in the 1950s. Jeanne seems to really get off on bragging about her exploits over men, with the priest (mathieu carrière). We see her deeds in flashback, as she recounts her evil ways. Lots of sad, mournful, wailing music. The film itself is long, and just okay. But it's fun to see some of these big names way back when! Some fun scenery from paris in the 1970s. Some blood and guts. Co-stars jane birkin, who had the birkin bags named for her! And robert walker junior. Vadim also co-wrote the screenplay for barbarella and plucking the daisy. These are all shown on turner classics and other channels now and then.

Just after this film and a small part in one other, top screen star Brigitte Bardot retired from films at age 39. Perhaps she was just tired of the life, perhaps she was rich enough and more money held little attraction or perhaps appearing in crap like this film just took the joy out of the life of an actress. I suspect all three are quite likely reasons for this retirement--and you'd think an actress like her could have gotten roles better than this bilge!

The film is, in many ways, like a porno film without much sex--with a plot that weak and silly. Bardot plays an impossible to believe and completely amoral woman who takes delight in sleeping around and eventually destroying men....or at least casting them aside and letting them destroy themselves. She goes from one conquest to another and there is absolutely no depth or story--just wigs, nice fashions and, occasionally, a boobie. All this is, supposedly, told to a priest to whom she is confessing--like the plot from a bad porno film!!! The dialog, story and acting are all crap and the film doesn't offer enough salacious content to justify wasting your time---even if you see it out of curiosity. Dull, stupid and a waste of a beautiful and very talented woman. I give this film a 1 because I cannot see how anyone could make sex or Bardot dull--but they did! Talk about a waste of talent!!

By the way, one of the reviewers was particularly harsh towards director Vadim for this and many other travesties. Based on his films that I have seen (such as this, the 'remake' of "And God Created Woman", "Barbarella" and others), this attack seems entirely justified.