bardot revisited the english view

i first became aware of french female stars when i was school boy- michele morgan in the fallen idol she was too spohisticated too remote, then leslie caron a jolie laid gone american ,then there was bardot and not in french movie but doctor at sea. she had dark hair, a pony tail, flouncing skirts -french as we imagined all french to be and weren't .then came god created woman st tropez ,the hair ,the clothes the mambo, the pout stratospherically sexy, marilyn monroe was a joke by comparison . i dont think she made any good movies but that didn't matter. in england she was and is the only french movie star that means any thing .in england she became more than star ,a symbol of liberation and the south of france, she probably set everything the sixties were in motion .she also made st trop the place it is today ,both beautiful and over crowded .it has no railway station. there are marvellous things .the port de pecheur, the pamplone beach. bardot set the the st tropez goldrush in motion .the quay is for shameless showing off by people who should have enough money not to want to ,but there a places they dont go ,and the beaches are heaven the spring before the mob arrives .as for bardot still a star, still controversial ,animal rights, right wing politics .being bardot there is no no plastic surgery -she is as she is and the better for it. we appreciate her for what she was, and we admire her courage to be what she has decided to be. as a school boy i'll never forget the cinema in paris'' god created;''- on the screen .who did i envy more than anyone else in the world jean louis trintignant who not only won her in the movies but in real life too in the words of rhett butler when he described the untameable scarlett -what a woman some thing bardot was ,is and always will be