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33-439: Roger Vadim Plemiannikov ( French pronunciation: [ʁɔʒe vadim] ; 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, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Blood and Roses (1960), The Game Is Over (1966), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in

66-402: A non-heterosexual perspective, viewing psychoanalytical and modernist views of eroticism as both archaic and heterosexist , written primarily by and for a "handful of elite, heterosexual, bourgeois men" who "mistook their own repressed sexual proclivities" as the norm. Theorists like Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick , Gayle S. Rubin and Marilyn Frye all write extensively about eroticism from

99-626: A Row (1971). Vadim was born Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (sometimes transliterated Plemiannikoff ) in Paris. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemiannikov, a White Russian military officer and pianist, had emigrated from the Russian Empire and become a naturalized French citizen. He was a vice consul of France to Egypt , stationed in Alexandria , later posting to Mersin , Turkey as a consul. Vadim's mother, Marie-Antoinette (née Ardilouze),

132-525: A caper film in Canada, The Hot Touch (1981), starring Marie-France Pisier . Back in France he wrote and directed Surprise Party (1983). He directed episodes of Faerie Tale Theatre (1984) and Deadly Nightmares (1986). Vadim attempted to recapture his former success with a new version of And God Created Woman (1988), with Rebecca De Mornay . Very different from the original – it only really used

165-497: A commercial disappointment. Not particularly successful either were Charlotte (1974), and Game of Seduction (1976) with Sylvia Kristel and Nathalie Delon . He directed a TV movie Bonheur, impair et passe (1977), starring Danielle Darrieux . In the 1980s Vadim based himself in the US. He directed Night Games (1980), where he attempted to make a star of Cindy Pickett , with whom he became romantically involved. He directed

198-509: A film Vadim helped write and produce, And Satan Calls the Turns (1962), and was also in Vice and Virtue (1963), which Vadim directed. Vadim had another success writing and directing for Bardot, Love on a Pillow (1962), but found less favour with Nutty, Naughty Chateau (1963) starring Monica Vitti . Vadim tried another adaptation of a classic erotic text, La Ronde (1964). He said at

231-432: A heterosexual, lesbian and separatist point of view, respectively, seeing eroticism as both a political force and cultural critique for marginalized groups, or as Mario Vargas Llosa summarized: "Eroticism has its own moral justification because it says that pleasure is enough for me; it is a statement of the individual's sovereignty". Audre Lorde , a lesbian Caribbean-American writer and outspoken feminist , called

264-441: Is buried at St. Tropez Cemetery. Erotic As French novelist Honoré de Balzac stated, eroticism is dependent not just upon an individual's sexual morality , but also the culture and time in which an individual resides. Because the nature of what is erotic is fluid, early definitions of the term attempted to conceive eroticism as some form of sensual or romantic love or as the human sex drive ( libido ); for example,

297-432: Is that if this book makes me a little money it will be a tiny compensation for all the money I helped those actresses make", Vadim explained. He also wrote several plays and books of fiction, including L'ange affamé . Vadim died of lymphoma at age 72 on 11 February 2000. Widow Barrault and ex-wives Bardot, Fonda, Schneider and Stroyberg were all in attendance at his funeral; ex-girlfriends Biderman and Deneuve were not. He

330-506: The Encyclopédie of 1755 states that the erotic "is an epithet which is applied to everything with a connection to the love of the sexes; one employs it particularly to characterize...a dissoluteness, an excess". Libertine literature such as those by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester evoked eroticism to the readers. Because eroticism is wholly dependent on the viewer's culture and personal tastes pertaining to what, exactly, defines

363-469: The Schneider-Creusot steel and armaments firm) as well as adult stepchildren from Barrault's first marriage to Daniel Toscan du Plantier , also a friend of Vadim's, who called him "a happy man. He was someone in whom there was so much satisfaction to the end of his life. The films merely reflected his happiness." Nathalie, his eldest daughter, told Fonda biographer Patricia Bosworth : "Jane was

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396-754: The University of Paris , without graduating. At age 19, he became assistant to film director Marc Allégret , whom he met while working at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, and for whom he worked on several screenplays. He was an assistant director on Allegret's Blanche Fury (1948), a commercially unsuccessful melodrama which Allegret made for a British company in English. Vadim was one of several writers on Allegret's French-British The Naked Heart (1950), aka Maria Chapdelaine , starring Michèle Morgan , as well as serving as assistant director. It

429-421: The US periodically while she made movies there. He directed Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) for MGM, starring Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson . It was a commercial disappointment. Vadim returned to France. He wrote and directed Hellé (1972), starring Gwen Welles , which was a flop. He was reunited with Bardot for Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973), which was Bardot's penultimate movie and

462-443: The basis on which understanding provides a foundation for acknowledging difference. Lorde suggests that if we suppress the erotic rather than recognize its presence, it takes on a different form. Rather than enjoying and sharing with one another, it becomes objectifying, which she says translates into abuse as we attempt to hide and suppress our experiences. Fran%C3%A7oise Arnoul Too Many Requests If you report this error to

495-578: The erotic a source of power specifically identified with the female, often corrupted or distorted by oppression, since it poses the challenge of change. "For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives". In "The Uses of the Erotic" within Sister Outsider , she discusses how the erotic comes from the sharing of joy, "whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual" and provides

528-495: The erotic and the pornographic": "the history of the separation of pornography from eroticism... remains to be written". Audre Lorde recognises eroticism and pornography as “two diametrically opposed uses of the sexual”, defining the erotic as “a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.” In her 1978 essay, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power , Lorde identifies

561-411: The erotic as a source of creative power that is deeply rooted in a spiritual plane of unrecognised or unexpressed feeling and sensation. Influenced by Sigmund Freud , psychotherapists have turned to Greek philosophy for an understanding of eros' heightened aesthetic . For Plato , Eros takes an almost transcendent manifestation when the subject seeks to go beyond itself and form a communion with

594-454: The erotic as that which concerned love...eroticism was the intrusion into the public sphere of something that was at base private". This theme of intrusion or transgression was taken up in the twentieth century by the French philosopher Georges Bataille , who argued that eroticism performs a function of dissolving boundaries between human subjectivity and humanity, a transgression that dissolves

627-405: The erotic, critics have often confused eroticism with pornography , with anti-pornography activist Andrea Dworkin saying, "Erotica is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer." This confusion, as Lynn Hunt writes, "demonstrate[s] the difficulty of drawing... a clear generic demarcation between

660-624: The love of my father's life." In addition to Vadim's theatre and film work, he also wrote several books, including the memoirs "Memoires du Diable", "Le Gout du Bonheur: Souvenirs 1940–1958" and an autobiography, D'une étoile à l'autre ( From One Star to the Next ) as well as a tell-all about his most famous exes, Bardot, Deneuve & Fonda: My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World , published in 1986. "My attitude

693-465: The object/other: "the true order of going...to the things of love, is to use the beauties of earth as steps...to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair actions, and from fair actions to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty". Modern French conceptions of eroticism can be traced to the Age of Enlightenment , when "in the eighteenth century, dictionaries defined

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726-402: The rational world but is always temporary, as well as that, "Desire in eroticism is the desire that triumphs over the taboo. It presupposes man in conflict with himself". For Bataille, as well as many French theorists, "Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest...eroticism is assenting to life even in death". Queer theory and LGBTQ studies consider the concept from

759-595: The same title – it failed critically and commercially. His final years were spent working in TV, where he directed Safari (1991) and wrote and directed Amour fou (1993), starring Marie-Christine Barrault who became his final wife. She was also in La Nouvelle tribu (1996) and its sequel Un coup de baguette magique (1997), which Vadim wrote and directed. Vadim was celebrated for his romances and marriages to young beautiful actresses. In his mid-30s, he lived with

792-601: The script with Allegret. The film was a commercial disappointment. However the next collaboration between Allegret, Bardot and Vadim, Plucking the Daisy (1956), aka Mam'selle Striptease , was a huge success at the French box office. So too was Naughty Girl (1956), with Bardot. This allowed Vadim to get backing for his first movie as director. Vadim's first film as director was based on an original story of his, And God Created Woman (1956). Starring Bardot, Curt Jurgens and Christian Marquand and produced by Raoul Levy it

825-453: The still-teenaged Catherine Deneuve , by whom he had a son, Christian Vadim , prior to his marriage to Fonda. He was also involved with Margaret Markov , Sylvia Kristel and Cindy Pickett . Later, he cohabited with screenwriter Ann Biderman for several years, announcing their engagement in 1984, but the couple never wed. He also had two stepsons from his marriage to Schneider (younger sister of novelist Dominique Schneidre and heiress to

858-444: The time, "When I make a picture about relations between people, something erotic comes through; I can't help it! But sex has been an inspiration, the greatest inspiration, since art exists." One of the film's many stars was rising American actress Jane Fonda who began a romantic relationship with Vadim. Vadim devised a vehicle for Fonda, The Game Is Over (1966), based on a book by Émile Zola . Shot in French and English versions, it

891-641: Was a stage actress. He had one sister, Hélène Plemiannikov (1929–2022). Although Vadim lived as a diplomat's child in Northern Africa and the Middle East in his early youth, the death of his father when Vadim was nine years old caused the family to return to France, where his mother found work running a hostel in the French Alps , which functioned as a way-station for Jews and other fugitives fleeing Nazism . Vadim studied journalism and writing at

924-432: Was also in the vampire film Blood and Roses (1960). Vadim was reunited with Bardot for Please, Not Now! (1961), a popular comedy. He was one of several directors of the anthology film, The Seven Deadly Sins (1962). Vadim began a relationship with a young Catherine Deneuve . She starred in a segment of the anthology film Tales of Paris (1962), which was written by Vadim and directed by Allegret. She starred in

957-420: Was assistant director on Allegret's Julietta (1953), a popular romance with Jean Marais , Dany Robin and Jeanne Moreau . Vadim wrote Allegret's Loves of Three Queens (1954), with Hedy Lamarr . Vadim had begun a relationship with model-actress Brigitte Bardot . She was given a good role in a drama directed by Allegret, School for Love (1953), aka Futures Vedettes , starring Jean Marais; Vadim wrote

990-594: Was not only a major success in France, but around the world, and established Bardot as a global icon. Vadim followed it with No Sun in Venice (1957) starring Françoise Arnoul and Marquand, produced by Levy, which was considerably less popular than And God Created Woman . Levy, Vadim and Bardot were to make Paris by Night with Frank Sinatra but Bardot refused to spend months in the US and Sinatra felt likewise about filming in France. Instead Vadim made The Night Heaven Fell (1958), starring Bardot and Stephen Boyd . He

1023-416: Was one of several writers on Allegret's popular comedy, Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958), starring Mylène Demongeot . Vadims's next film was an adaptation of the book Les liaisons dangereuses (1959), which he wrote and directed. It starred Moreau, Gérard Philipe (in his final film) and Annette Stroyberg , a Danish model who became Vadim's second wife. The film became a huge hit in France. Stroyberg

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1056-456: Was shot in French and English versions. Blackmailed (1951) was another film Allegret directed in England, starring Mai Zetterling and Dirk Bogarde ; Vadim was credited as one of the writers. He was also one of several writers on Allegret's, La demoiselle et son revenant (1952). Vadim did the screenplay and commentary for a documentary, Le gouffre de la Pierre Saint-Marti (1953), and

1089-453: Was very popular in France, though less so in the US. Dino de Laurentiis wanted Fonda to star in a science fiction sex comedy, Barbarella (1968) and she agreed provided Vadim would direct. Following this he directed Fonda in a segment of the omnibus horror film Spirits of the Dead (1968) along with her brother Peter Fonda . During his marriage to Fonda, Vadim would accompany her back to

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