Love On A Pillow (DVD)

When Genevieve (Bardot) accidentally goes into the wrong hotel room, her life is suddenly thrown into chaos by the discovery of a young man apparently in the last throes of a suicide attempt. She calls for help, the man (Hossein) is saved, the two meet properly and fall in love. However, things soon turn sour when Renaud reveals himself to be a moody, masochistic alcoholic.

There is perhaps no star in the world who commands the same sexual allure that Brigitte Bardot had in 1962 when this was made. This is perhaps no bad thing as were it not for her still not inconsiderable allure, it is doubtful this unsubstantial piece of fluff would ever have got past the pitching stage.

It is odd really that a film starring the sexiest actress in the world at the time, made in France and directed by Bardot's husband, Roger Vadim, largely as a means to capitalise on her sexual appeal in 1962 when the world was on the cusp of the sexual revolution, should be as tame as this. But tame it undeniably is.

The film's badly translated title (it is also known inexplicably as Warrior's Rest) encapsulates its overall confusion. The supposed relationship between her and Robert Hossein totally lacks chemistry. We get a few shots of Bardot naked from the shoulders up and a blurred shot of her naked tummy. We even get an posh pair of old codgers looking on disapprovingly at the young couple as they are locked in an embrace in a train carriage. "There are more appropriate places for that sort of activity,” one says to the other. The film veers between verging on soft porn to being something like a Beatles movie. Things are confused still further by the appearance of British actor James Robertson Justice (sort of a quieter post-war Brian Blessed) in the second half.

In the end, Bardot tired of her director husband Vadim. They divorced, he married Jane Fonda. She largely retreated from public view after her looks began to fade in the 1970s. She ultimately became fascist (or at least extremely right wing), more in love with animals than humans. Let's all hope Miley Cyrus doesn't end up going the same way.

Overall Verdict: And God created woman. A shame Roger Vadim bothered to create this.

Reviewer: Chris Hallam