As we come to Roger Vadim we find a filmmaker once again in stark contrast to those around him (or her). Varda stands out from Melville, who stands out from...Vadim, it takes no time to figure, remains apart from both of these folks and, it should be noted, from others associated with the FNW. Except, that is, in his quality of freedom, his overt enjoyment of subject/story. We will see a similar love when we meet Truffaut. We cannot underestimate the influence Vadim had in terms of a sensualism (as a form of freedom) heretofore missing from dominant French cinema (a similar claim can be made about American cinema as well: though filmed in an alluring way, Ingrid Bergman probably wouldn't be called sensual, in a cinematic sense, it seems).
Remember a time before Coors Light commercials for twins or Brittany Spears or Gone in Sixty Seconds in which sexuality (or its cousin sensuality) wasn't a center piece (rightly or not) of commercialized entertainment, back to a time of Roger Vadim and his cinematic body, Brigitte Bardot. In 1956, Bardot came as a role model for many girls tired of the misleading puritanism forwarded in dominant culture/society (by the cinema du papa, for example, in its formula of beauty equals guilt, a still prevalent phenomenon today, one might argue).
How might one respond today to BB in terms of philosophical or political engagements?
For a 21st century person, BB is a confident woman and her beauty is an asset. On the other hand, femininists could argue that by using her sensuality she is not empowered to develop other charcater traits. However, Roger Vadim allows her to be an active participant in that she makes decisions out of self interest as opposed caring about what men or women say. Historically, this activeness in deciding one's life has been in the domain of men. When she acts on a desire, the dominant male culture perceives this as threat because she does not need a man to do or decide for her. The whole beauty equals guilt concept could arise from the reaction of male dominated society to subdue the opposite sex. But, what is interesting in real life and in "And God Created Women", is how women bought into this belief and enforce it when fellow women try to become active and independent.
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