Voulez-vous danser avec moi?

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.

The murder mystery plot is pretty limp, but Bardot is at her ripest and performs a joyous mambo. The gay subplot would have been unthinkable in a Hollywood film of the time; here the treatment is relatively casual and benign. The title song is a finger-snapping delight; how could it have escaped Bobby Darin's attention?

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.

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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.

"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?".