''Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman'' (french: Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...) is a 1973

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...

. It sees Vadim reunite with his leading lady and ex-wife

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

for their fifth film together. Bardot achieved international stardom and Vadim got his break when he directed her in the 1956 film '' And God Created Woman''.

Premise

Jeanne believes she is the reincarnation of

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

and prides herself in the destruction of men who have fallen for her charms. She confesses murder to her cousin, a priest named Paul, to whom she also frankly details her past sexual encounters.

Cast

as Jeanne *

Robert Hossein Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...

as Louis Prévost *

Mathieu Carrière Mathieu Carrière (; born 2 August 1950) is a German actor. Life Carrière grew up in Berlin and Lübeck; he attended the Jesuit boarding school in Vannes, France, a school which had previously been attended by the director of Carrière's fir ...

as Paul * Michèle Sand as Léporella *

Robert Walker Jr. Robert Hudson Walker Jr. (April 15, 1940 – December 5, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in films including ''Easy Rider'' (1969) and was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. He became less active in lat ...

as the guitarist *

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin, Order of British Empire, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She als ...

as Clara *

Maurice Ronet Maurice Ronet (13 April 1927 – 14 March 1983) was a French film actor, director, and writer. Early life Maurice Ronet was born Maurice Julien Marie Robinet in Nice, Alpes Maritimes. He was the only child of professional stage actors Émile Rob ...

as Pierre Gonzague

Production

Vadim said in an interview after the film came out:

My attitude to women is accepted today in a way that it wasn't when I started out as director. But today women overreact – they pretend to be free on an intellectual and sexual level but because of our Christian traditions sex is always associated with guilt. Now however it's possible for a woman to have the same relationship with sex as a man – a man who is a lover can be a Don Juan whereas women like that were always considered whores or femmes faciles (easy women). But I think a woman can be free without being a whore. A female Don Juan can exist nowadays without a sense of guilt.

He later elaborated:

''Don Juan'' is the end of a period – problems about love and sex, cruelty and romanticism on an aesthetic level – and I wanted to finish that period with Brigitte because I started with her as a director (''And God Created Woman''). Underneath what people call "the Bardot myth" was something interesting, even though she was never considered the most professional actress in the world. For years, since she has been growing older, and the Bardot myth has become just a souvenir, I wanted to work with Brigitte. I was curious in her as a woman and I had to get to the end of something with her, to get out of her and express many things I felt were in her. Brigitte always gave the impression of sexual freedom – she is a completely open and free person, without any aggression. So I gave her the part of a man – that amused me.

Vadim said he was attracted to the character of Don Juan was "the sense of defiance on every level. Its someone who refuses to be involved in any system. In the film it's a woman who defies men – and I do the film like the character – against all the rules." Vadim says he deliberately pulled back on the sex scenes. "I was interested in the idea of seduction, not what happened in bed – though I would love to make a documentary on how they fucked." Jane Birkin plays the role of a woman who falls in love with Brigitte Bardot's character. "I accepted immediately just to be in bed with Bardot", said Birkin later. "She's the most utterly perfect woman. There's not a fault. God knows, I looked. Even her feet are pretty." "If there's homosexuality between men, they have to be queer", said Vadim. "But women can have relationships with other women without being dykes. Brigitte seduced this girl to hit the man, and the girl is enchanted not to be treated as a sex object for once in her life." "If ''Don Juan'' is not my last movie, it will be my next to last", said Bardot during filming.

Reception

The film received poor reviews in France. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote that the film "like so many of his adim'sfilms, has some beautiful photography and slick editing but few plausible scenes. Incapable of creating an illusion, Vadim is eminently capable of creating an illusion of creativity." "It stinks" said another review for the same paper. "I have seen as much passion, and almost as much flesh, at the Test match", wrote ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. David Thomson, in his ''Biographical History of Film'', felt that there was "awful sadness" in Bardot's appearance.David Thomson
''The New Biographical Dictionary of Film 5th Ed''
Hachette UK, 4 Nov 2010, accessed 4 January 2015

References

External links

* *

at Sunset Gun
Review
at DVD Journal
Review
at ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' {{Don Juan 1973 films 1973 drama films 1973 LGBT-related films 1970s English-language films 1970s French-language films 1970s Swedish-language films 1970s erotic drama films 1973 multilingual films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films directed by Roger Vadim Films based on the Don Juan legend Films set in London Films set in Paris Films set in Sweden French erotic drama films French LGBT-related films French multilingual films Italian erotic drama films Italian LGBT-related films Italian multilingual films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related drama films 1970s Italian films 1970s French films French-language Italian films