A Very Private Affair (1962)

When Jill becomes a movie star, she soon discovers that her private life is destroyed by persistent fans that won't leave her alone. Her mother's ex-lover, Fabio, tries to protect her.

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

Jean-Paul Rappeneau (screenplay), Louis Malle (screenplay)

Stars:

Brigitte Bardot, Marcello Mastroianni, Nicolas Bataille

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Brigitte Bardot	...	Jill
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Fabio Rinaldi
Nicolas Bataille	...	Edmond
Dirk Sanders	...	Dick
Jacqueline Doyen	...	Juliette
Paul Sorèze	...	Maxime (as Paul Soreze)
Eléonore Hirt	...	Cécile (as Eleonore Hirt)
Gloria France	...	Anna
Ursula Kubler	...	Carla
Isarco Ravaioli
Gregor von Rezzori	...	Gricha
Antoine Roblot	...	Alain - le photographe
Simonetta Simeoni

Storyline

When Jill becomes a movie star, she soon discovers that her private life is destroyed by persistent fans that won't leave her alone. Her mother's ex-lover, Fabio, tries to protect her.

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Plot Keywords:

star | older man younger woman relationship | satire | reflection | enigma | 

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Taglines:

A new triumph for today's most talked about star!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French Italian

Release Date:

28 September 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Very Private Affair

Filming Locations:

Franstudio, Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Compagnia Cinematografica Montoro (CCM), Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques (CIPRA), Progéfi

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

French actor Michel Auclair dubs Marcelo Mastroianni's voice in French.

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Connections

Referenced in Afgrunden (2003)

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Soundtracks

Leçon De Danse
Written By François Carpi
Orcheste dirigé par la compositeur François Carpi
Music by Jean-Max Rivière and Jean Spanos (as Y. Spanos)
(p) 1962 SEMI, Barclay

User Reviews

brilliant but cryptic study of private vs. public in early new wave style

Malle was an accomplished director of varied taste -- witness Pretty Baby (1977), a study in adolescent prostitution, and Au revoir les enfants (1986), a devastating account of youth in a private school in collaborationist France (with autobiographical hints.) But in Vie privee (1962) -- and please, it is Vie privee, not La vie privee (there is a difference) he achieved a dazzling, virtuosic, and at times subtle, at times hypnotic study of a movie starlet's sudden rise and precipitous fall from the limelight; her intense ambition, hiding a neurotic self-love, seems to evaporate as her life enters a new phase, becoming involved with a friend's former lover whom she had looked to for help. Bardot is captivating: she fills the screen, by turns stunning, radiant, and brooding, playing the role as though it were her life's story; add a suave and elegant Marcello Mastroianni as the glitterati who hides the fallen starlet from public view, and you have an electric mix. Watch the film in French with subtitles, please: only the original French conveys the cynical boredom of Jill (Bardot's character) and the paparazzi who swarm around her. And watch it also for Henri Decae's camera -- how it jumps from face to floor, cropping a doorway so that Bardot fills it, for example! -- and for Bernard Evein's glorious saturated colors. And the account of the Verdi Requiem at the Spoleto Festival makes a nice counterpoint to Jill's mundane existence with Fabio (Mastroianni). Oh -- the 'difference' mentioned in the French title is that without the 'La' ('the') vie privee carries a suggestion of 'a deprived life' as well as 'a private life.' Compare to the American version, called 'A Very Private Affair'!