‘Vie privée‘ (the title under which it was released in English is ‘A Very Private Affair‘), Louis Malle ‘s 1962 film, starts from some excellent premises. It is probably the film that is closest to the Nouvelle Vague in his filmography, perhaps alongside ‘Zazie dans le metro’, his previous movie. Starring Brigitte Bardot, the film bravely explores the personal life of its star. B.B., as she was pampered by fans and the press, was only 28 years old, but her life was already the subject of legend, adulation, scandal and … a film script. The psychological pressure of celebrity, exacerbated to the point of destroying the personal lives of the idols of the crowds, had already claimed and would claim dozens or hundreds of victims from then on. ‘Vie privée‘ exposed the phenomenon and did so in reasonable artistic terms, but the impact of the film was to be minor. Brigitte Bardot herself would not escape the pressure of her own celebrity until she gave up acting.
Jill, the heroine of the film, comes from a wealthy family. She lives with her mother in a magnificent villa on the Swiss shores of Lake Lehman and dances (without much passion) in a ballet troupe. She is unhappy, like any beautiful and rich girl, and is also secretly in love with Fabio, her best friend’s husband, a man slightly older than her, an art magazine editor and theater director. To change the atmosphere, she goes to Paris, where she soon becomes a movie star. Success brings with it the pressure of fans who follow her everywhere and of paparazzi journalists who constantly photograph her and make every detail of her private life public. To find peace, she returns to Switzerland, where she meets Fabio again, who has since divorced. Would the liaison with the man so different from her bring her the calm and protection she longs for? Does the love story between a woman and a man so different from each other have any chance?
In many of the films I see and write about, the actors are the ones who give extra value and sometimes even save the films. In ‘Vie privée‘ the opposite phenomenon happens. Marcello Mastroianni was a formidable actor, and Brigitte Bardot managed in many films to demonstrate that she also has acting talent and not just a fascinating beauty. Here, however, things did not go very well. The two actors, who were as different in style and personality as their characters, did not like each other and did not collaborate well on the set, and this is felt. Bardot is surprisingly cold and insensitive precisely in this role that has so many things in common with her own biography. The bond between the two was marked not only by the differences in age but also by those of cultural background. From this point of view, it is reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller, which had ended a year before the filming of ‘Vie privée‘ and which may also have inspired the screenwriters. This kind of more complex bond is very rarely present on screen. The script is well written, the location shootings in both Switzerland and Italy are excellent, but the story seems drained of life precisely because of the actors’ performance. What could have been one of the peaks of Louis Malle and Brigitte Bardot‘s cinematic careers is today considered a relative failure. Too bad. I still recommend watching it.