Les bijoutiers du clair de lune

In Cinemascope and Technicolor, "The Night Heaven Fell" is spectacular in more ways than one. Vadim takes us across and through some incredible landscapes in Spain, using long shots to great effect. Then there is the spectacle of the virulent cult of bullfighting which comes into the film twice, the brutality of which is emphasized more than its cultural mystique. And that's obviously because this is as much Bardot's film as her husband's, and her evolution into an animal rights activist, which she remains today, is on full display here. Her scenes with the many animals in the film are full of genuine warmth and compassion, and even becomes an important plot point when her runaway outlaw lover wants to kill a piglet so they won't starve in the wilderness.

And of course the main spectacle for many (esp. males) is Brigitte Bardot herself, in all her youthful radiant vivacious libidinous glory. I personally had a pre-pubescent crush on her in the late 50's, when this movie came out. Of course I never saw one of her movies back then but photos in magazines, probably Life and Look or my mom's Photoplay. And there was that lobby card on display outside the Avalon theater on 75th street in Houston in '58 advertising "and God...Created Woman," showing the famous shot of Bardot in bed with a sheet just barely covering her not-so-private parts. It was a neighborhood theater that had turned into an "art" (adults only) theater that I walked by regularly, and I did stare at that still photo for a good long time as a 10 year old.

I still haven't seen many of her films, but in this film she proves her acting chops and also gets to expose her physical assets on a level American actresses were certainly not able to do, especially in a dramatic film of this caliber. It's kind of funny how Vadim paced the tease of the film for the horny viewer, exposing her incrementally almost like clockwork, culminating in a breast shot as Stephen Boyd falls on her to once again seal their doomed passion.

And that's what really raises this above any kind of titillating pulp romance, the authenticity not only of the sets and people, from all the amazing extras to the stars, but of the emotions the two lovers display. Bardot, whom I've lusted after for nearly 50 years, could act like Signoret or Moreau, at least in this film.

Although this movie has much to do with the Spanish sense of pride and honor, its real issue is a fierce competition between the beauty of Brigitte Bardot and that of the landscape of Southern Spain. As Bardot's performance is pretty uninspired here, this time the scenery wins.

'Les bijoutiers du clair de lune' makes good watching for its enjoyable shots. As for Bardot, she certainly did better in other movies.

A love story in Spain. Delicate, silky and dramatic. A young girl in a strange world, a man out of law, a aunt who hopes in the transformation of past. Adventure and a dead body - innocent victim of a fight in which she has not place. A different Bardot and a brilliant Alida Vali. At the end,only the subtle wall , with romantic sketches. It is not a good or bad film. It is ordinary description of pieces of dream, shadows of reality, small things and childish desires. Nothing complicate and this is cause of the emotion at the movie's end. A feeling as a summer rain, warm and nostalgic, spiderweb in wind, the taste of evening and the silhouette of a Madame Bovary closed in everybody.

In 1956, Roger Vadim made a sensational debut as a motion picture director with 'And God Created Woman', a daringly erotic film that challenged conventional views of romanticism... Vadim presented the nude body of his young wife, Brigitte Bardot, in all the splendor of CinemaScope with beautiful Technicolor photography...

Along with Francois Truffaut, Louis Malle, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda, Vadim was one of the founding members of the revolutionary French New Wave, to push the sexual archetype...

His subsequent films revealed him to be an accomplished European filmmaker with an eye for visual beauty and decorative elegance, but in content, his films have often been superficial and lacking in narrative strength... Sexual relations have been a recurrent theme in his films, the plot of which have often revolved around the undisputed beauty of his succession of wives - Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, and Jane Fonda...

"The Night Heaven Fell" is the second collaboration between Vadim and Bardot... Vadim seems to have attempted to recapture the freshness and essence of the 'B.B.' he had helped to shape, but the re-creation escaped him, despite the careful choice of Albert Vidalie's novel and the casting of Stephen Boyd as leading man...

Bardot's innocently natural mannerisms had disappeared, and it seemed that she no longer needed Vadim to make use of her talents as an accomplished actress... Claude Autant-Lara succeeded much more with his film, 'Love Is My Profession,' playing Brigitte opposite Jean Gabin and Edwige Feuillere... Bardot came off as more than a sexual image, her persona giving life to the character she portrayed...

Filmed in Franco's Spain, "The Night Heaven Fell" is a sunburned film noir, beautifully photographed in Color and CinemaScope...

Bardot plays Ursula, a beautiful convent girl vacationing in a small village in rural Spain where her patient and passive Aunt Florentine and her rude uncle, the Count Ribera (Pepe Nieto), live... Upon her arrival, she's hunted by the handsome and forceful Lamberto (Stephen Boyd), who's looking to avenge the death of his poor sister...

The sexually repressed Florentine desires intensely Lamberto who kills her husband, seduces her, and escapes with her rebellious, capricious and highly provocative niece Ursula...

The air of harshness is at the heat of all of the main characters: Ursula's challenging sexuality; Count Ribera's lecherous advances; Lamberto's acts of vengeance; and most of all, the unusual beauty and natural charm of Florentine, played by the great Italian actress Alida Valli, from Carol Reed's The Third Man.

There's a scene in the film that takes place during the Count's funeral where we see Alida Valli stopping in the village streets and a veil covers her face... In front of Boyd, she takes off her dark veil, and stares, in silence, at his face... Her new feminist disposition was loading all her unconscious feelings...

In the fifties, Bardot emerged as a new type of sex symbol, flashing her sexual exuberance... Her performances as a child of nature responding to the call of sensuality, were a deliciously strange elixir to all of us growing up in that time...

Clothed in a breakaway towel, décolletage, bathing suits, or nude, this truly luscious coquette was enough to drive us into a kaleidoscope of dynamic excitement...

The spoiled Ursula de Fonte (Brigitte Bardot) leaves the convent where she was educated to live with her Aunt Florentine (Alida Valli) and her tutor and uncle, Count Miguel de Ribera (Pepe Nieto), in a farm nearby a village in Spain. While driving through the village, Ursula sees the local dweller Lamberto (Stephen Boyd) accusing her uncle of being responsible for the suicide of his sister. Lamberto goes to the farm to fight against Miguel but he is beaten up.

Ursula falls in love with Lamberto but sooner she finds that he is Florentine's lover. When Miguel finds Lamberto in his real state, he shoots the trespasser and Lamberto stabs and kills Miguel. Ursula helps Lamberto to flee and they are chased by the police. Ursula becomes his lover and their love ends in tragedy.

"Les Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune" is a silly melodramatic romance by Roger Vadim. I saw this film many years ago on cable television and I have just seen it again on DVD.

The plot is absolutely ridiculous, with a terrible story and characters. Brigitte Bardot never convinces as a virgin girl that was raised in a convent and her character is annoyingly hysterical. Stephen Boyd also does not convince as a Spaniard and his wolf character is very unpleasant. The gorgeous Alida Valli has good performance in the role of a repressed woman that falls in an unrequited love with Lamberto, but the poor script does not help her.

In addition to Alida Valli, the locations and the beauty and erotic situations of BB are the best that "Les Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune" can offer, but it is very few to enjoy this film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Ao Cair da Noite" ("Near Nightfall")