Colinot l'alzasottane

This is quite simply a delightful comedy about the love adventures of a young French man. It is "naughty" without ever being vulgar and a refreshing change from the crudeness and the violence seen in many films today. It is even better if you can understand its original language (French) for it is full of quaint and transparent allusions.

After the international critical and box-office success of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Decameron", Italian, French and even Spanish film-makers produced a flood of Decameron-related films of varying quality and varying amounts of nudity and eroticism. In Italy about 300 such films were made between 1972 and 1976: so many that Italian critics gave the sub-genre a name: "decamerotici" (erotic films set in the Middle Ages or Renaissance and which referenced, however vaguely, Boccaccio and similar authors (like Chaucer).

Nina Companeez's film is an entertaining and tasteful contrbution to the genre. Structured around troubadouresque poetry and ministren-style folksong, the film offers the viewer a series of vignettes that tell the story of a young villager's quest to recover his fiancée, kidnapped by brigands. In the spirit of François Villon's bawdier verse (or the prose of Rabelais), the film guides us through a sentimental education in the ways of Eros and towards a more refined appreciation of the role of seduction and of love in the sublimation of carnal delights. The poet Louise Labé and the storyteller Marguerite de Navarre seem to be the tutelary spirits of the final section of the film.

Brigitte Bardot glows with talent, warmth and wit, but all the cast is excellent. The nude bodies displayed -both male and female- are all beautiful and wrapped in an aura of 70s sensuality. There is humor, both rustic and refined. And for "Game of Thrones" fans, there is even a formidable female knight.

This said, the cinematography is conventional and not very inspired; and the wardrobe is sometimes a bit inaccurate for the period. Not a classic, but a pleasant entertainment nonetheless.

In 1973, Bardot made two final attempts to resuscitate her career, with "Mrs. Don Juan," directed by Vadim, and Nina Companeez' "Colinot trousse-chemise."

Vadim once again presented Bardot as an amoral woman compelled to satisfy all of her desires… In the Companeez film however, Brigitte taught the young Colinot that love is not always synonymous with eroticism…This film seemed to be an excellent way to conclude her career which had been formed around Bardot the sex object…

"I would like to stop when I am older – 35 – I have never wanted to play old women," Brigitte announced to the magazine "L'Express" in 1956… She has remained true to that testimony, but is still one of the world's leading symbols of natural love and the freedom to lead life however one may choose

Not really.

"Colinot' is notable for BB's presence.It was to be her last movie and at the time ,in France ,nobody believed she was serious ,but she was true to herself and her decision to call it quits as the porno was thriving in her native land was never called into question.

BB briefly appears for "Colinot" is primarily a film made of sketches which takes place in the MIddle-Ages.Francis Huster ,the hero meets plenty of gorgeous ladies such as Natalie Delon and Muriel Catala .BB is a highborn lady who teaches him that "owning a woman's soul is a harder task than owning her body".

Nina Companeez's amorous bawdy inspiration was much better applied on "Benjamin" which she wrote and which Michel Deville directed in 1968.