Director Michel Boisrond had already secured in the mid-1950s a name for himself in the history of French cinema, being among the first to cast in leading roles Brigitte Bardot and, a little later, Alain Delon. The collaboration with Brigitte Bardot would continue and among the most successful films with the public was ‘Voulez vous danser avec moi?‘ (‘Come Dance with Me!‘ in the English distribution), whose premiere took place in the last week of the 50s. The exuberant beauty and naive charm of the French star still fascinates today, 65 years after the film was made. However, I think it would be unfair to say that it is the only quality of this production. While his New Wave contemporaries were blowing up cinematic conventions – including cursive narration – with sometimes baffling experiments, Boisrond was making films that would entertain the masses. And yet, ‘Voulez vous danser avec moi?‘ was no stranger to what was going on in the neighboring studios.
The story begins as a romantic comedy. Virginie falls in love at first sight with dentist Hervé when she comes to him to treat her father, a wealthy industrialist. The next scene is the wedding and the one after it a heated argument, after which Virginie leaves the apartment of the young people, married not long ago. Depressed, the dentist drowns his sorrows in a bar, where he meets a beautiful dance teacher, who invites him to her apartment for one last drink. These are the first five minutes of the film and the beginning of complications that include dance lessons, blackmail and a murder in which Hervé becomes the prime suspect. Virginie, turned amateur investigator, is ready to face any danger to prove her husband’s innocence. If you look for a comedy where a hot blonde investigates a crime in the world of dance schools, nightclubs, cops and crooks, this is the movie you’re looking for.
Brigitte Bardot is formidable. Her magnetism has survived the passage of time intact, and in this film she also proves that she could dance, and that she had temperament and comedic talent. The film was produced in 1959 and I can’t help but suspect the influence of ‘Some Like It Hot’ that premiered in March that year, a film also dominated by a blonde whom no one can resist and in which the gay theme is approached with empathy and humor, which was news to the studios and a shock to many viewers. The filming in the nightclub is perhaps also influenced by the American cinema that also fascinated the directors of the New Wave, but the musical numbers in transvestites are, I think, a first in the French film. I didn’t like Henri Vidal, Brigitte Bardot‘s partner in this film, on the other hand I enjoyed Serge Gainsbourg‘s small role. ‘Voulez-vous danser avec moi?‘ remains to this day an entertaining worth watching film.