Il riposo del guerriero

The title of my review ought to be enough to scare off the folks who are expecting a plot-driven, digestible story. You'll get none of that here.

Although there is indeed a plot (a rather interesting one, if you ask me), the power of this film lies not in the story but in the script and in the subtle, almost indecipherable fragments of philosophy we experience through these two highly complex characters.

Geneviève (Bardot) is the the romantic. Her counterpart Renaud (Hossein) is the cynic. The collision of their worlds causes a catastrophic upheaval in both of their lives. But it is undeniable that they need each other, just as the two opposing philosophies rely on each other. Sort of a yin-yang thing. At times they are at war with each other; at times they cling to each other for life; at times they threaten to annihilate the other absolutely. This is some really heavy stuff that cannot possibly be summarized in a few paragraphs, so I won't even try.

There are several monologues which are so stirring I want to learn them by heart. Particularly the last two speeches in the final 10 mins of the film. Pay close attention to those words, because they sum up the entire theme of the film. Powerful. Powerful.

"Love On a Pillow" is a dubbed French film starring Brigitte Bardot at her most beautiful and alluring. An existentialist writer, artist, and musician from Paris attempts suicide in Dijon. He is saved when a lovely young Parisian girl, in town to claim a substantial inheritance left her by a rich aunt, mistakenly opens his hotel room door and finds him near death from an overdose of sleeping pills. Thereafter, he becomes her responsibility, they fall in love, and his abject alcoholism and stubborn cynicism both torment and liberate her. In the process, we see her transformed from an attractive young woman into a sexy beat hipster, and finally into a ravishing goddess who defines feminine beauty. It is very evident in this film why Bardot was considered one of the most captivating actresses of the early sixties. Particularly toward the end of the movie, there are closeups of her that take your breath away. The film's setting is very interesting, as well -- among artists and jazz musicians in Paris in the early sixties. The score is simple but ethereal. There is one touching scene in a café in Florence where the lovers are momentarily content and at peace. A guitarist approaches their table singing a pretty Italian love ballad. The man appears annoyed, then in a sudden outburst, chases away the musician because "that song has memories." The incident may reveal what is really bothering him. At the conclusion, the film's understated score moves to a poignant crescendo. "Love On a Pillow" is not just a beautiful film. It is easily Bardot's finest effort.

This film had some charm by the time it was made. BB was in a great shape. The youth in occident were strongly influenced by a fashion based on a vulgar reading of existentialist philosophy. The first time I saw this film, during the sixties, I was 17 or 18, and a kind of a "rebel without a cause", fond of existentialist literature. So the film impressed me.

Today, seeing the film again, I found it almost stupid. I explain.

1. The revolt of Renaud is not explained in a context, so we don't know exactly why he is bitter, cynic, self destructive and iconoclast.

2. The author of the story tries to glamorize Renaud revolt, but, what I see can't be glamorized. For instance, Renaud wears the same unwashed clothes during several weeks (which seems to be the time the story lasts) doesn't take a bath and doens't shave his beard. He smokes all the time and drinks heavily since the time he wakes up. So, his clothes and his breath certainly stink disgustingly. He messes seriously Geneviève's apartment spreading all around dirty dishes and ash trays stuffed with smoked cigarettes. All this mess and dirtiness for nothing... or to punish unjustly Geneviève?

3. Geneviève looks rather as stupid blonde female because she falls in love with a stinking revolted pseudo-existentialist who does't do anything useful to anyone and criticize hardly the middle class life style, middle class of which he is actually a parasite.

The film deserves to be seen because of the presence of BB. She was marvelous by that time and a real icon of a generation. A queen of many dreamers as me.

One of the few mainstream films I ever saw dealing with a manic-depressive. Which is a disease, the guy is not "just crazy" or "abusive". Anybody who knows about depressions (clinical) will appreciate the film. Of course it is not perfect, her falling in love with him could have been done a bit more believable, Vadim is no Antonioni, but still I like it a lot.

In the USA Easy Rider was one of the first films where people smoked pot ("without raping a nurse" as Dennis Hopper stated), Vadim showed it almost 6 years earlier! He was quite hip and brave to make the film, dealing with a mental disease which is still under the carpet 50+ years later, in the first place. Not many people care for depressive persons. His ex-wife BB had some understanding as well of course, she tried to kill herself a year before the film was made.

While their short-lived marriage was long gone, this is the fourth of five Roger Vadim/Brigitte Bardot collaborations and only the second I've watched myself. After opening in a light comedy vein, this rather scrappy film turns into an unappetizingly ponderous melodrama on the lines of LA DOLCE VITA (1960), complete with a risibly "beat" orgy sequence and a surfeit of pretentious chat; nevertheless, the whole is somewhat redeemed by the attractive Italian locations in its second half and the nice musical score throughout.

For what it's worth, it tells of a bourgeois girl (Bardot) – shortly to be married to an unassuming young man – travelling from Paris to Dijon to hear the will of her late aunt, who accidentally stumbles on the suicide attempt of a bohemian, pulp-thriller-loving misanthrope (Robert Hossein) who, upon recovering, literally turns her life upside down. The cast is completed by James Robertson Justice (as Hossein's sculptor friend), Macha Meril (as Robertson's tramp companion) and, in one sequence, Michel Serrault as a notary.

In the end, the original title of THE WARRIOR'S REST sounds far more interesting that what's on offer here and the fact that I was misinformed about the film's running time – I thought it was a good 22 minutes shorter! – did not help to earn it much affection from my end. But, then, the sight of Bardot in her prime (and, Vadim being Vadim, in various stages of undress as well) is always welcome...