I Watch Films: La Mariée Est Trop Belle

 

La mariée est trop belle (The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful) (1956)

On a photo shoot in the French Countryside, fashion photographers for magazine Love Of Life (L’amour de vie) come across Catherine (Brigitte Bardot) and recruit her as a model (because she looks like Brigitte Bardot). Giving her the name Chouchou she becomes an instant star, and Judith, in charge of the magazine, creates stories about her. She pairs Chouchou with male model Patrice and takes pictures of them together doing various things.

Chouchou remains virtuous in Paris, her favourite evening activity being to go to bed with coffee and bread and jam (?). Eventually Judith decides to marry Chouchou and Patrice in a big event in her home town. However Patrice realises he’s in love and runs away. Instead Michel (Louis Jordan) Judith’s lover and editor of the magazine steps in. The twos feelings for each other emerge, only for Judith to arrive with news that her estranged husband has agreed to a divorce and she and Michel can be together.

A light and frothy romantic comedy, from the same year that Bardot became a sex symbol in And God Created Woman. Although this also trades on Bardot’s charisma and good looks, it’s a much less serious film, one that invites us to admire her from a distance.

Watch This: Fun, entertaining romantic comedy about real love affairs and confected ones
Don’t Watch This: Practically weightless, Judith uses her models to promote the magazine, creating entirely fake lives for her readers, and this attempt at satire has no bite or even point to it