Friday, January 02, 2015

Movie review - "Love on a Pillow" (1962) **

Roger Vadim married Brigitte Bardot and helped make her a star; they divorced but remained friends and colleagues, collaborating on this minor effort. She plays a young woman who saves a handsome mystery man (Robert Hossein) from a suicide attempt and, although engaged to someone else, becomes obsessed with him.

Because it's a Bardot movie there's scenes were she rolls around in a sheet naked, and one where she stands in front of the fire with no clothes on. It's based on a novel but interestingly some elements of this - a woman so obsessed with a man she puts up with anything he does, even seeing a hooker - are reminiscent of the way Jane Fonda later said she behaved in her marriage to Vadim.

The film isn't that good though - it drags despite a not particularly long running time, and always felt as though it needed more story or something... such as the former fiancee seeking vengeance, or something getting a terminal illness. As it is, it's mostly Hossein acting badly, Bardot complaining but being drawn back.... then eventually he comes to his senses.

James Robertson Justice pops up in the second biggest role - a friend of Hossein.  (He would later appear in Two Weeks in September with Bardot.) Vadim shows off his love for jazz again in an extended party sequence which reminded me of Les Liasions Dangereuse.

Hossein gives a pretty good performance and so does Bardot - she has a scene where she loses it, presumably an obligation after her success in The Truth.


No comments: