Yikes...this movie scares me a bit. Let me give you a bit of background. In this film, a best-selling author has writer's block, so his agent arranges to get him a personal secretary who will work with him, baby him and sleep with him--whatever this successful man needs. Why does that intimidate me? Well, my wife is a best-selling author and I sure hope she doesn't ask for something like this!! Considering how well her books have been selling, they might just give her one!! Maurice Ronet plays the author who is a complete pig. He is talented but also exceptionally shallow, as he cannot maintain a relationship with a woman. Instead, he uses them and the only thing he REALLY is interested in is sex....or wanting to possess a woman if another man wants her! Yet despite being a shallow pig, he's been able to have some amazing women in his life--women he was completely incapable of loving. He also, apparently, has no problem smacking one 'when she needs it'! Brigitte Bardot answers the ad in the paper for an assistant that is willing to act as a secretary AND sexual plaything! At first, she's offended but then rather inexplicably takes the job. Most of the time, she types up his memoirs--as he muses about his many shallow relationships. He doesn't see this as a problem--his only problem is that ultimately most of these women want commitment. Later, when he goes to bed and expects sex from his assistant, she is willing to follow the letter of the agreement. She is willing to sleep with him but puts absolutely nothing into this--lying there rigidly and putting no emotion into it. As a result, he's turned off and very frustrated--but she IS following the agreement. The longer this takes place, the more he wants her.
Towards the end, for the first time, she begins to show interest in her piggish boss--and he shows less piggishness. And she runs to him and they finally make love. By this point I was VERY frustrated because of the bad message this gives to women. However, in a wonderful twist, the next day she is gone--and he, for once, is left alone and wanting commitment which he never is going to get. And so ends the movie--with a sad man who FINALLY realizes what he really needs from a woman.
In many ways this reminds me of the Truffaut film "The Man Who Loved Women", though this film is a bit better than "The Vixen". One of the reasons was the dreadful organ music (organ music?!)--it just sounded cheap. Another, and this was WEIRD, but "The Vixen" had a bloody bullfight scene--which is weird considering Ms. Bardot's VERY public anti-animal cruelty stance.
By the way, there is a lot of nudity in this film--something you may want to consider before watching it. And, as is typical of most of Bardot's films, the nudity is on the part of other women--in all of her scenes the naughty bits (a "Monty Python" term for nudity) are covered.
Towards the end, for the first time, she begins to show interest in her piggish boss--and he shows less piggishness. And she runs to him and they finally make love. By this point I was VERY frustrated because of the bad message this gives to women. However, in a wonderful twist, the next day she is gone--and he, for once, is left alone and wanting commitment which he never is going to get. And so ends the movie--with a sad man who FINALLY realizes what he really needs from a woman.
In many ways this reminds me of the Truffaut film "The Man Who Loved Women", though this film is a bit better than "The Vixen". One of the reasons was the dreadful organ music (organ music?!)--it just sounded cheap. Another, and this was WEIRD, but "The Vixen" had a bloody bullfight scene--which is weird considering Ms. Bardot's VERY public anti-animal cruelty stance.
By the way, there is a lot of nudity in this film--something you may want to consider before watching it. And, as is typical of most of Bardot's films, the nudity is on the part of other women--in all of her scenes the naughty bits (a "Monty Python" term for nudity) are covered.