The ’60s pin-up queen and bossa-nova chanteuse is 76–her look, timeless…
Ann-Margret was sassy; a kitten with a whip. Julie Christie was classy; an accent and a hairstyle. Nico was wacko; shiny boots of leather and a fatal bicycle accident. Bridgitte Bardot was just plain daggers, a Gallic fatale: no wonder so many Lothario renaissance men lined up to request her Muse-dom. From 1952′s Manina, the Girl in the Bikini and onward through countless French-subtitled films throughout the ’60s, the octogenarian animal-rights recluse today likely has a chuckle over “it” all now. Ennuyeux a mourir!. But we take her beauty most serious. Bringing her back to those high-flying times is Laetitia Casta, portraying Miss Bardot in the fall bio pic Gainsbourg. We’ll be there in the picture show, recalling that B&W poster on our high-school bedroom wall capturing the one-time ballerina straddling a Harley in black leather thigh-high boots and a look of invincibility on her gap-toothed pout: Bardot the Barbarian. “Vah-room!” doesn’t do her justice. Save a Siberian tiger for her today. Oh, and that’s Casta on the piano in the upcoming film.
