I Always associate Brigitte Bardot with director Roger Vadim. And not without reason. His film "Et Dieu ... créa la femme" (1956) was her breakthrough. But apart from that she has also worked with French directors who are creatively held in higher acclaim. Think of Henri-Georges Clouzot ("La verité, 1960), Jean Luc Godard ("Le mepris", 1963) and Louis Malle ("Viva Maria", 1965). Whatever the director, Brigitte always plays more or less the same role as a naive, frivolous and highly sensual girl.
In 1960 Henri Georges Clouzot was past his prime, but with "La verité" he directed a good film nevertheless. The position of "La verité" in the Clouzot oeuvre can be compared with the position of "The birds" (1963) in the Hitchcock oeuvre.
"La verité" is about the relation between a boy (Gilbert played by Sami Frey) and a girl (Dominique played by Brigitte Bardot). This relationship topples during the film. In the first half the boy takes it very seriously, in the second half the girl.
In the second half of the film it is very important from whom's point of view the story is told. The boy is of the opinion that the girl is obsessed. When we see the story through his eyes it resembles "Leave her to heaven" (1945, John Stahl). The girl is of the opinion that the boy is selfish and cruel. When we see the story through her eyes it resembles "Letter from an unknown woman" (1948, Max Ophuls).
The story is told in a series of flashbacks on the basis of witness statements during a trial. So we not only have the points of views of the "participants" of the relationship, but we also have the statements of more objective outsiders. The point is however that the statements of these more objective outsiders don't match either. This suggests (and I think this is the real meaning of the title) that there is no such thing as an absolute truth. In this respect the film has the same theme as "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa).
In 1960 Henri Georges Clouzot was past his prime, but with "La verité" he directed a good film nevertheless. The position of "La verité" in the Clouzot oeuvre can be compared with the position of "The birds" (1963) in the Hitchcock oeuvre.
"La verité" is about the relation between a boy (Gilbert played by Sami Frey) and a girl (Dominique played by Brigitte Bardot). This relationship topples during the film. In the first half the boy takes it very seriously, in the second half the girl.
In the second half of the film it is very important from whom's point of view the story is told. The boy is of the opinion that the girl is obsessed. When we see the story through his eyes it resembles "Leave her to heaven" (1945, John Stahl). The girl is of the opinion that the boy is selfish and cruel. When we see the story through her eyes it resembles "Letter from an unknown woman" (1948, Max Ophuls).
The story is told in a series of flashbacks on the basis of witness statements during a trial. So we not only have the points of views of the "participants" of the relationship, but we also have the statements of more objective outsiders. The point is however that the statements of these more objective outsiders don't match either. This suggests (and I think this is the real meaning of the title) that there is no such thing as an absolute truth. In this respect the film has the same theme as "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa).