A Very Private Affair
(Vie privée)
With Brigitte Bardot, Marcello Mastroianni, Nicolas Bataille.
France/Italy, 1962, 35mm, color, 103 min.
French with English subtitles.
A look at the phenomenon of media stardom, the film chronicles the rise and fall of Jill (Bardot), spoiled daughter of a wealthy family. Blessed with beauty and connections, she runs off to Paris with her lover, but soon goes off on her own. Within no time she's become a movie star, increasingly better known for her adventures off the screen than on it. She eventually returns home and rekindles an affair with her best friend's ex-husband (Mastroianni). In interviews, Malle claimed to have been unsatisfied with the film; his stars were barely on speaking terms, and what he thought would be a critique of "star culture" seemed to transform into something else. Seen today, however, the virtues of A Very Private Affair seem more apparent, not the least being the touching performance from Bardot.
