All language subtitles for Rencontre avec Brigitte Lahaie 23 juin 2016_EN

No traces or marks
on my body.

Look.

Oh, no! No…

Once again we would like to thank the
Forum for hosting us on this second day.

Please welcome Guillaume Le Disez,
Nicolas Lahaye and Cédric Grand Guillot

who wrote the book
Brigitte Lahaie : les films de culte,

and of course Brigitte Lahaie

for the discussion
A meeting with Brigitte Lahaie.

Good evening, everyone.
Thanks for being here.

We are absolutely thrilled about
this talk, this roundtable

in the presence of Brigitte,
which for us caps off two years of work,

because we've been preparing
this for two years.

We approached Brigitte
to ask her if she'd agree

for us to embark on this book project
in which we trace her entire career.

Since this was a shared idea
that was not uniquely ours,

we launched a crowdfunding campaign
which was successful,

demonstrating that many of us
think it's a wonderful subject

that can speak to many.

Today, we'll talk about it in person
with our subject.

I'm here in person. All is well.

Why a book about
Brigitte Lahaie's career?

Why is her trajectory so fascinating?

Because it describes, it tells
the story of two decades of cinema,

of exploitation films,
of neighborhood cinemas,

of all the genres she's worked in,

and because it also tells us

how an icon, a symbol of French
popular culture came into being.

No less!

That's what we'll talk about
and try to trace back.

Starting from the beginning.

We'll ask for Brigitte's input
throughout.

Obviously we've talked a lot.

This will also be a roundtable
interspersed with video excerpts,

because we also need to show you
the films we're talking about,

which make up Brigitte's trajectory.

Cédric, perhaps you could do
a brief introduction

on her career, an overview
of Brigitte's career?

- He's got stage fright.
- I'm not at all comfortable.

I'll simply read it.
It's too scary, because…

The story of actress Brigitte Lahaie

is one of a girl
who followed her instincts,

but also certain men in her life
inviting her to make certain choices

whose radical character
she did not suspect at the time.

Some people do not understand
why we associate Brigitte Lahaie

to the pure and essential notion
of cinema.

That is because of…

That's because of sex, unfortunately.

Brigitte Lahaie
had a first taste of cinema

through high-end pornography
and eroticism,

namely with Francis Mischkind
and Alpha France

and one particular director,
Jean Rollin,

who invited her to join his universe,

making her almost instantly iconic.

It's with those auteurist
fantasy films

that Brigitte starts to develop
a taste for drama,

that of her burgeoning acting career,
at the end of the '70s.

French genre films,
since that's what we're talking about,

will give her a totally
unexpected longevity,

which we'll talk about tonight.

It is in fact a cinema…

whose aim was, in any case…

not to have longevity.

It was meant to be seen in a theater,
once, in passing.

Fortunately, 40 years later,

retrospectives are being held,
and we are talking to you about it.

Yes.

Brigitte quietly became
a bis cinema actor,

slashing jugulars with rage,

stabbing indiscreet patients
in the eye with a syringe,

or, as you'll see tonight,
becoming a political prisoner, naked,

on an island somewhere
on the Atlantic shore.

Brigitte's cinema is also that.

Tonight, we'll celebrate
the advent of our adult film star,

who became the cult star
of so-called B films,

perhaps because A cinema
has shunned her for too long.

There.

Maybe we should start at the beginning:
how did you get into film?

I came to Paris in '76

with the desire to do something else
with my life.

I come from a petit-bourgeois milieu.

I had stars in my eyes, as we say.

I visited modeling agencies
2 or 3 times.

Each time they told me,
"No, your breasts are too large."

"Frankly, with a chest like yours…"

My chest is not that great, I agree.

One day, I responded to an ad
in France-Soir that said,

"Looking for a large-breasted woman."
I told myself, "That's it!"

So I went.
It was on the Champs-Élysées,

I still remember it quite well,
on the 6th floor of some building.

There was a guy who showed me…

I don't remember
what those things were called…

It was on a small… Anyway,
he showed me on a tiny screen.

He said, "It's an Italian film,

"and we need to splice in
hardcore inserts."

I said, "What? Hardcore inserts?"

Then he had to explain to me
what those were, because…

I no longer was a virgin,

but I'd probably only had
two men in my life.

I watched it and said,
"That's cool. Yes."

Then I told myself,
"Alright, okay."

That's how my first shoot began.

You could only see my ass, which is
fitting for the Festival des Fesses.

Very soon after,
I was being asked to shoot films,

but I did have a brief moment
of wondering

whether I should continue.

For 2 or 3 days
I asked myself that question.

Then I told myself,
"This is terrific.

"I'm doing something original."

I think I was very naive.

At the same time,
I've got an animal side.

Well yes, sex is natural for animals.

You said you started by shooting

scenes that were used
to spice up certain films.

- One. - One scene used
to spice up other films

that were not themselves pornographic

at a time when there was
a large demand for…

It was during the explosion
of pornographic films,

in 1976, which was one of the years

when more films than ever
were released.

It was the year the loi X
came into effect,

which created the adult film genre.

Before that, for a few months,
it was rather chaotic.

There were pornographic films
shown on the Champs-Élysées

between The Towering Inferno
and Le vieux fusil

in the large Parisian plexes.
Then the law was enacted

and structured
the production of films in France.

The loi X was voted.

It was a 33% value-added tax on any film
that included pornographic images.

The aim was obviously to hamper
the escalation of pornographic films,

because there were more and more
posters in the streets,

and it was clearly…

- It was a virtuous call to order.
- Exactly.

There were virtuous deputies
screaming their heads off

at the National Assembly
and making Freudian slips.

Notably while the law was being
voted on, this one deputy…

- André…
- Robert André.

Who yelled,

"Minister, you must harden your sex."

Instead of "Harden your text."

It was in fact a law which
subjected pornographic cinema

to drastic taxation,

but which also
made it into a free space.

Which is quite peculiar.

From the moment
the loi X was passed,

to continue shooting pornographic films

was much less profitable,
and in a sense,

and that is what's so different
from today's situation,

in some sense, it was only
those people who really wanted

to shoot these kinds of films
who remained.

All the people who were looking
to quickly make money…

It wasn't so profitable anymore.

I think that's what explains

that between '76
and the advent of video in 1980…

That's why we call it
the golden age of adult films.

It's the three-year period

when there was a sort of
subterranean creativity

coming from people who wanted
to thumb their nose at society,

which at the time still wasn't
quite sexually liberated.

Absolutely. Those are
the three years during which

you worked in pornographic films.

- I was lucky.
- The best years.

The directors you worked with
came from the film industry.

They were people who'd
already had careers in film

before the advent of pornography.

Absolutely.
They had made other films.

They were either doing this because
they couldn't make traditional films,

like Jean Rollin, for example,
who needed to make a living.

Or, as was the case for Francis Leroi,

it came from a desire, which I shared,
to thumb our noses

and to prove that sex
could, in fact, be shown.

It doesn't have to happen in the dark.

Exactly.
They're all great pornographic films.

It's a notion that may be
hard to grasp nowadays,

but since you mentioned Francis Leroi,

you played in some great films.

I'm Yours to Take
is a film that is influenced

by both Hitchcock
and Claude Chabrol.

Speaking of which, let's watch…

At the time,
I'm Yours to Take even had

a very positive review
in the Cahiers du cinéma.

Let's watch a trailer for
I'm Yours to Take.

Ladies and gentlemen,
let me introduce my wife, Hélène.

Bravo!

What a piece!

I've never seen anyone like her.

It's our turn.

About what we've just seen,
I'd like to say…

Here, the tone is immediately clear.

Meaning that it's not a film
you'll necessarily masturbate to.

The trailer is already
telling the audience,

"This will stress you out."

It even has Hitchcock's glass.

I'm Yours to Take tells a story
obviously with a lot of…

It's about sex, but it tells a story.

It's also a very referential film.

Yes, and it's by people who had been
making films for 10 years,

15 years, who had a lot films
under their belt.

There's Francis Leroi,
and also Claude Bernard-Aubert.

That's someone you worked with often.

I made many films with
Claude Bernard-Aubert,

who adopted the pseudonym
Burd Tranbaree.

Yes, it's true that there was
a very good atmosphere on set,

but at the same time,
it was very strict.

There was a script,
things we had to do each day.

- These were professional shoots.
- Absolutely.

A bit more fast-paced, of course.
We wouldn't do 15 takes

because we didn't have
either the time or the budget,

but it was cinema.

It was cinema.
For example, Claude Bernard-Aubert

was someone who had made
numerous films,

who previously had been a war reporter,

and who at one point
suffered a stroke of bad luck

and was financially ruined
when one of his films flopped.

Francis Mischkind knew

that he was a very professional
and efficient filmmaker

and signed him on for a series of films.

He did it somewhat reluctantly at first,
as he explained to us,

but as it turns out, he made
some of the best films of that period.

And you were in many of those.

Some yes.
I don't recall how many I made.

- Nine.
- Yes, a dozen.

It's true that Burd Tranbaree
is quite interesting

because he was someone
who thought a lot,

who would prepare his scripts,

who came up
with new types of fantasies,

and who really had a creative process.

What was rather surprising to me,

because he was already
a man of a certain age,

and today he must be quite old,

was that we really had the sense
that he was doing a shoot,

that he was making films.

While with certain directors,

you could very well see that
they were somewhat lecherous.

With Claude Bernard-Aubert,
on the other hand, there never was…

he never behaved inappropriately.

We truly were
in a professional relationship.

That's not quite how
things are today, I believe.

- To him, it was cinema
more than anything else. - Exactly.

THE HOUSE OF FANTASIES

Mr Mathieu…

I would like you to help me turn
my daughter into a great whore.

He threw me onto the bed.
He nailed me like a beast.

- And the little maid?
- Her presence was reassuring.

But she still took advantage of me.

She took me with a strange object

while the man pounded on my belly.

Did you like it?

Stop, I'm begging you!

What you just said reminds me
that another director

whom you know very well,
Michel Barny,

has a saying to describe the era.

He says that before,
film professionals would pivot to sex,

and now, it's sex professionals
who try making films.

She gives great head!

- The blonde from last night?
- No, I just fucked that one.

No, I'm talking about the redhead
with huge breasts.

Fuck me, I've got a boner just thinking
about her! Really, I've got a hard-on!

Alright, girls, we're going home.
It's 7 in the morning.

You won't have much time
to sleep before work.

Mr José, can't you at least
take off your hat?

Never! I never take off my hat.

I never take it off.

We'll live like them, the three of us.

Like them?

Drink, work, fuck.

- You think it's possible?
- Yes.

He's cute!

He's nice…

EXQUISITE PLEASURE

Watch out!

We'll use the gift that nature
gave us so generously.

Use the gift that nature
gave us so generously.

Mimi!

I'm coming.

Vice squad.

Please follow me, the three of you.

We can also briefly mention
Gérard Kikoïne.

Of course, yes.
I didn't make many films with Gérard,

but I made one
that is certainly considered

to be one of the best in the genre:
Indécences 1930.

Also known as
Education of the Baroness.

Education of the Baroness, exactly.

What, Solange?
I'm fed up, fed up!

Have you gone mad?
What's wrong with you?

I'm fed up, I'm sick of this!

Don't you understand?
I can't take this anymore!

You're driving me insane!
I don't even know you.

- I've never seen you before.
Go on, get lost! I've had it! - Enough!

Those films had several titles,

because their release
could be a little chaotic.

They could be submitted multiple times
to the ratings board…

Above all they needed
catchy titles

because there was no way to see images.

Outside the cinemas,
you could only see the title.

So naturally, the title
needed to catch your eye,

like for example
Pussy on a Hot Tin Roof

or The Train Will Whistle Three Times

That's why they would use titles

that referenced traditional films
in order to attract passers-by.

It was forbidden to represent bodies

or organic shapes
on adult film posters,

so the posters only used typography.
Many of them were very creative.

There is a book dedicated to this,
an anthology that should come out soon.

It focuses on all those posters.

There was also creativity on the part
of the distributors and the publicists

in order to promote films
that couldn't be shown.

They couldn't be seen outside.

Films were often given new titles
by the distributors.

There is one film whose title
when it was originally screened

was Hot and Horny,
which is a little base.

For its video release,
Francis Mischkind changed it to…

Hunting Parties In Sologne.

I don't know about you,

but that got my adolescent brain
working hard.

What was behind that title?

If I remember correctly,

it's a film where we're
supposedly hunting.

It's a very loose film,

in which people simply
meet inside a house.

They fuck, kill some animals,
eat those animals, and then fuck.

My dear friends…

- Hello.
- Oh, hello. How are you?

How is Hélène?

Come. She's very busy,
but she's expecting you.

Get in there, dear.

Hello.

Hi, honey.

What's new with you?

Hi, you handsome gamekeeper.

Bravo!

Bravo!

Fantastic!

Bravo!

It's astounding.

It's a true expression
of that moment, of '78.

There's nothing else like it.

What you just said about the titles

and the fantasies that people
of our generation

may have held and developed
about those titles,

is in my opinion also quite important
in shaping the man you've become,

because to tell the truth, we've thought
a lot about the titles of your films.

Christophe Lemaire,
who's not with us tonight,

was telling us how much
he'd fantasized about your name

which he saw in Pariscope
when he was still too young

to be allowed to go see your films.

He would religiously
read the cast of the films

he wasn't allowed to see
in Pariscope.

Your name came up a lot, and
he imagined a lot of things about it.

He'd already built up a whole world
inside his head before he ever saw you.

If you look hard enough,
you'll start seeing things.

Speaking of directors

who tried their hand
at pornographic films

as a space for free expression,

we could mention Bénazéraf,
who was a peculiar individual

and who, as we'll see shortly
in an excerpt,

could insert in his films
things that would…

That would be completely
prohibited today, I think.

Some of it would be prohibited,

but there's also things
that would never cross the minds

of the people making pornography today.

Let's watch a brief excerpt
from Hurlements d'extase.

I don't know which one that is.

Bernard-Henri Lévy as a
thought leader for the 21st century.

He's a ballet master, isn't he?

Him, the late Clavel,
and Glucksmann in '74,

they flipped sides after
the presidential elections.

And now they realize
that it's not modern society,

but Marxism that is
the cause of all our ills.

It's the famous equation:
Marxism equals gulag.

We're lucky our names
aren't plastered on the walls.

To be clear: that is not
Brigitte Lahaie's voice.

It's true that in most adult films,

it's quite rare that we hear your voice,
because the films were dubbed.

That's right. The films were dubbed,

and anyway, at the time,
my voice was a little high-pitched.

Still, there's a few films
where you hear my voice.

It's true that my voice
is more controlled now.

Fortunately.
It works better for radio.

In your first film with Jean Rollin
you play a psychoanalyst.

Visibly a bit young to have
undergone an analysis…

- In which you have many lines.
- That's true.

- And you got by…
- Not too bad.

I must say your dream
is quite fascinating.

It shows how your spirit
has a true gift for poetry.

This can be inferred
from the way you tell it.

If we stick to the facts,

you have had an erotic dream
in which you participated

by making love to one of the characters.

But in your narration,

you shroud the story
in an intellectual language

which on the one hand magnifies it,

and the other, completely
erases its obscene character.

About dubbing,

we could mention that
there was another reason

which is entirely pragmatic
and rather interesting.

It's that the cameras
used on those shoots were,

unlike the Cameflex cameras
that were used on traditional shoots,

a model called the Rolleiflex,
which was less expensive to use

and more importantly, its film
magazine was on top of the camera,

making it possible to place it
at the ground level,

which obviously was useful
for certain types of framing.

- But noisier.
- But much noisier.

In fact, it was…

It was the reason why the majority
of those films were dubbed.

Because live sound recording
was impossible.

- It sounded like a coffee maker.
- Like a coffee maker.

And for that reason,
tons of actors

who did traditional dubbing,
even renowned ones,

had fun dubbing adult films.

We would hire seasoned actors
because dubbing is expensive,

and we needed actors
capable of immediately…

Take for example Gérard Hernandez,

who in Exquisite Pleasure
dubs Dominique Aveline.

- You've got pretty eyes, you know…
- Don't kiss me.

I'm faithful. You're crazy!
I'm faithful, I am!

Miss, I'm a married man!

I am married! You cannot touch.

No touching…

You are tickling me…

No, not lower!

I want to clarify about
Claude Bernard-Aubert,

who came from traditional cinema
and had to make pornography.

He was a bit like Jean Rollin,
in the sense that…

he had preconceptions
about pornography,

and it didn't especially interest him
to shoot penetration scenes, anyway.

Those two directors
had this in common at the start:

they would leave
when the time came to shoot.

The would position their camera,
very professionally,

because they're both real filmmakers,

but after that,
they'd go outside to smoke their pipe.

- The cameramen would do it.
- They would do it all.

Staging-wise, were were quite free
for the hardcore scenes.

We'll touch on Jean Rollin later,

because it's a very important
collaboration

since it took you to…

it broadened your filmography.

About the shoots,

can you tell us about
the atmosphere on the sets

and the particular spirit
that prevailed there?

We were a family.

We would see each other quite often,

whether it's actors, directors,
or crew members.

There weren't too many of us
making these kinds of films,

so we'd see each other very often.

There really was a sort
of community, so to speak.

Whenever we shot
in the countryside especially,

which happened sometimes…

We really had the feeling that we were
thumbing our noses at society.

Maybe some of us were
trade unionists before, but…

It was astonishing, because in fact,

we'd shoot our films and no one,
not our neighbors, not our families,

no one could guess what we were doing,

since anyway you could only see it
in darkened rooms.

No one would come up to us and say,
"I saw you in a movie"

because that would have meant
they'd gone to see those films.

I even remember being invited
to a festival in Düsseldorf, Germany.

It was a film festival.

The moment the lights went up,
I went onstage.

There were more men
than women in the room.

At the time, it was a mostly
male audience.

And all the men bowed their heads.

On top of that, they were German.

It was completely ridiculous.

They were the ones
who looked ashamed

although it was me who'd
shown myself completely naked.

You really have to understand
that it was a different era.

Today, actresses who star
in pornographic films

go to conventions, sign autographs,
do meet-and-greets, etc.

At the time, no one ever
came up to me on the street

to tell me they'd seen me in a film
or to ask me for an autograph.

Ultimately it was
rather easy to be in…

We had the feeling that we were
doing utterly forbidden things.

It was quite fun.

And it was all very joyful.

Of course, we had hardcore scenes,
which wasn't always easy,

and there were some difficult moments,
because the actor couldn't perform.

Back then, there was no Viagra,
no intracavernous injections, etc.

If the actor couldn't perform,
we still had to figure something out.

But frankly it was…

I have very few bad memories
of that era.

And I have two or three…

I mostly have this one girlfriend
I've stayed in touch with.

It's the same for her: she has
good memories of those years.

What were difficult, on the other hand,
although I never did this,

were the porno theaters,

because there also were
small theaters

where hardcore scenes
were performed onstage.

People would go to the theater
to watch that like a regular play,

except it was sex acts.

I never did that,
but I told myself it was a bit tough

because there sometimes were
two consecutive shows.

When you were talking about
this kind of unawareness

of what those films
would later become…

No one could have imagined that
one day you'd see that on television.

It was absolutely unimaginable.

You were living it in the moment.

However, you were starting
to get noticed by the audience,

by the handful of journalists
who talked about those films.

I was not aware of it.

Nevertheless, you films
gradually became successful

especially in other countries,
in Germany in particular.

On certain posters,
your name became Brigitte Bordeaux.

And in Italy, too.

In fact, Italy was not producing
pornographic films.

They only started making them in 1985.

Your films would come out in Italy.

There, they had the right
to make posters,

but because no visuals existed,

they would make their own posters,
they would paint them

with beautiful blondes
that quite rarely resembled you.

But they always bore your name.

Before returning to Jean Rollin
and to move onto…

it's a mistake to say
"the next phase of your career"

because in fact,
your adult film career

is intertwined with
your career in genre films.

You started in 1978 with Jean Rollin.

Absolutely.
The Grapes of Death is even '77, no?

The shoot was. I think the film
came out in early 1978.

It was shot in winter.

We saw it in the first scene,
in the first excerpt,

where you're at the top of a stairway.

It was in winter, in the Cévennes.

Yes. It was minus 20.

We'll also watch a trailer from the era.

Earlier we talked about creativity
in terms of promoting films.

This is the trailer for a film
directed by Jess Franco

called I Burn All Over.

I… I don't know what to say.

I Burn All Over,
a self-sufficient film.

I Burn All Over

A film that needs no publicity.

That's why have decided ourselves

not to show you images from
I Burn All Over.

I Burn All Over,
rating certificate number 49084.

I Burn All Over
does not need a catchphrase

to encourage you
to return to this room soon

and see the adventures
it will reveal to you.

I Burn All Over

Women, girls

who are disillusioned,
lustful, victims of their own bodies,

subjected to every
kind of depravity,

slaves to all kinds
of perversions.

I Burn All Over

A wonderful villa

built on rocks
whipped all year long

by the raging sea.

I Burn All Over

Smugglers, policemen,
dead people.

I Burn All Over
Naked women.

Men's hands. Shrieks.

I Burn All Over

A heavy atmosphere,
a peculiar climate.

I Burn All Over

An evening of thrills,
of desires, of fear.

I Burn All Over,
coming soon to this theater.

It's a trailer that was made
by people who hadn't seen the film.

It's a film about white women
being trafficked.

Here, we realize that
the trailer perhaps has

a narration that's more
interesting than the film.

That being said, he's right about
the house. I mean, the villa.

There is a villa. There are victims.

It's all true.

Let's go back to Jean Rollin
and The Grapes of Death.

How did you end up
working on this film?

Well, I had shot a film
with Jean in '76,

and for a year and a half,
Jean would send me postcards.

"I'll give you a real part in a film."

And sure enough,
The Grapes of Death came into being.

I've got her!

Come on.

It's a film where
I don't play a big part,

but it's a real part.

It's the first time I had
the opportunity to play a part.

When I arrived on the set,
it was all professional actors.

And then I immediately
understood that…

That I was the black sheep.

Unfortunately, this followed me
around for many years.

I must admit that I hadn't really
understood the extent to which…

At that moment, I realized that
shooting pornographic films

perhaps wasn't well looked upon
by society.

And Jean?

In that respect,
you have to give it to Jean:

he insisted on my presence,
and that was that.

But that didn't solve it.

One night, the producer
walked into my room

to come onto me
because he thought it was normal

since I starred in porn films.

Fortunately I had my two
Dobermans with me,

so he didn't really insist.

Anyway, he wouldn't have raped me,
that's not what I mean,

but you have to understand that
to the minds 90% of people,

"porn star" means "whore".

- But not to Jean Rollin's mind.
- No, of course not.

You worked with him again…

When I shot Fascination with
Jean Rollin, it was the same:

at one point there was
a sort actors' revolution.

They didn't want my name on the poster.

Of course Jean stood his ground.

It's funny, because Fascination came out
in 78… or 79. It doesn't matter.

It was ridiculous to me, because
no one knew who I was anyway.

I had little…
But that sort of anecdote…

Those who sidelined you

were people who did not know
pornography either.

Of course.

They acted purely out of precaution.

- They were imagining things.
- Maybe it rubs off.

Perhaps they didn't know
about Jean Rollin's double career.

Jean Rollin, like other directors,
worked under a pseudonym

and made adult films,
which allowed him to work regularly,

since greenlighting an adult film
was very quick.

There was no long process based
on returns, no case to be made.

It could be done overnight.

He would alternate between that
and his career as a fantasy film auteur

and his own universe,
which perhaps Nicolas could talk about.

Jean Rollin said himself

that his personal films,
his fantasy films,

and especially his vampire films,
he would sign with his real name.

All the other ones, he would sign under
the pseudonym Michel Gentil.

French genre cinema

is very much focused on comedies.

If there is one auteur in France

who epitomizes the fantasy genre,
it's Jean Rollin.

With a very peculiar universe
molded by surrealism.

It is in fact one his main inspirations,

along with paintings
by Clovis Trouille,

as Jean-Pierre Bouyxou told us.

- Max Ernst.
- Also.

It's an extremely distinctive universe

that is in sharp contrast with the
funfair entertainer reputation

that directors like him sometimes had.

Let's watch the trailer for Fascination.

Jean Rollin and Michel Gentil,
those are all his real names.

I think his name was
Jean Michel Gentil Rollin.

Alright.

Earlier, when Cédric said that

Jean Rollin instantly made you
an icon and a cult figure,

it was essentially
in reference to this character

and to this figure of a young woman

armed with a scythe and
wearing a single piece of cloth

which has become absolutely iconic,
especially overseas,

in particular in the United States
and in Great Britain,

perhaps even more than in France.

I was in New York about 20 years ago

with Jean Rollin, who had
been invited to the United States,

and indeed I was surprised
by the number of Americans

who asked me to sign photos.

Jean had a…

It was a small audience,
knowing the size of the US population,

but there really was a an audience.

Jean Rollin is not very well
recognized in his home country.

There are many reasons for that,

one of which being that
a certain cable station

bought his films at a price
no one could compete with

in order to meet quotas,
and would constantly play them at night

which does not help.

Sure, they need some screen time,
but that's one of the reasons.

And indeed, cinephiles,

fans of genre cinema,
of horror and fantasy films

from the US, the UK and Germany
do him better justice.

The fact remains that it's a very
peculiar kind of auteur cinema.

We have to recognize
that it doesn't have mass appeal.

He has his own rhythm.
It's mostly about images.

Jean Rollin would explain
that he gave life to images

stemming from his own imagination,
with some movement.

So there's a rhythm
that is rather distinctive,

which is not easy today
for a young audience, for example.

Yes, it's a very distinctive
kind of cinema.

Besides, he's not great
at directing actors.

Sometimes it could be said
that his actors aren't always…

To some, it's a flaw.

He got better over time,
but at the beginning…

However it's through working with him,

as you've told me once, that
you aspired to become an actress.

Well yes, but I think I wanted
to be an actress from the start.

In any case, I wanted to…

I was an exhibitionist, in the sense
of wanting to show myself, of course.

But it's true that Jean Rollin
in some way gave me the impression

that I could become an actress.

This film, Fascination,

shows well how Jean Rollin had
a way of creating more like a painter

than a filmmaker, in fact.

He doesn't have the rhythm,

he doesn't necessarily know
how to connect all the scenes,

but each scene on its own
is extremely strong.

So it's more akin to… He's a painter.

In any case,
that's where all his references lay.

He put his stamp on it,
in the sense that this is auteur cinema.

In the etymological sense of the term.

In 1980, you decided to bring an end

to your career in
pornographic cinema

with a film called
Les Petites Écolières.

It's your farewell to the genre.

It's the moment when you decided

to exclusively dedicate yourself
to traditional cinema.

This will guide

the rest of your career.

You will often work
or rekindle with

people you had previously
encountered.

Either because you had already
started making films with them,

or because,
as with Jean Rollin's example,

they offered you new parts.

There was also Claude Mulot, with
whom you made Les Petites Écolières.

Or there's people you could
have crossed paths with,

like for example Michel Caputo,
with whom you later worked.

But you never worked on a
Jean-François Davy production.

No, that's right.

Jean-François Davy was one of
the most important producers.

I think that Jean-François Davy
had shot films before,

but he probably didn't direct
many films when I was…

He directed very few films.
However he produced a lot of them.

For some reason,

you never worked in a
Jean-François Davy production.

I think I did make one film
with Michel Caputo.

I don't know. You seem to know
my career better than I do, so…

- L'Exécutrice, isn't it?
- I'm not too sure about my career.

Yes, L'Exécutrice.
It's true that we focused on…

This is where the public interest
aspect becomes evident.

There are over 100 films
throughout Brigitte's career.

We're talking about 100 feature films,

about 100 feature films
that played in theaters,

which aren't equally interesting.

- You could say that, yes.
- It's uneven.

We did in fact dedicate ourselves,

Cédric, Nicolas and I,
to watching them all.

Which spares you
the trouble of getting lost

among those that aren't
necessarily worth it.

Some of them are mostly
interesting for their trailer.

We'll show you the trailer of a film
in an intermediary genre.

It's an erotic film

which had inserts spliced in

by inconsiderate distributors

perhaps in cities outside of Paris or…

There was this practice of showing
erotic films to the ratings board,

and at the slightest shot,

no matter how harmless,

of people starting to kiss,
you'd see shots…

- Of cars. - Of cars,
of people wandering around Paris…

Of birds tweeting.

And once it had gone
through the ratings board,

the copy would go back
to the editing desk,

and instead of these shots of cars,
hardcore inserts would be spliced in

which might have been shot
in a hotel room by…

one Claude Sandron, for example.

What's fascinating about
these hardcore inserts

is that you could watch a film…

You'd get a shot of a man
and a woman kissing.

Cut to inserts of genitals.

What you're seeing is not necessarily
that man and woman having intercourse.

It's not necessarily in the same place,
since for example Claude Sandron

was a man who would accost couples
coming out of Gare du Nord

and would invite them to make
insert shots in a hotel room.

He owned a collection of bedspreads
of different colors

to get some vague sense of continuity.
He even had grass-colored bedspreads.

And in order to add detail,

if the scene took place in a barn,

at times he might have added

maybe not a whole
bale of hay, but a few…

Two or three bits of hay
on a yellowish bedspread.

On that subject…

the first shots you appeared in.

The first time you met
those characters,

we don't know what films
your shots ended up in.

And I mean films, plural.
Somewhere, there's a film…

- Where you have inserts…
- Several films.

… of Brigitte, and no one
knows where they are.

Gérard Kikoïne, who was an editor…

Let's organize a game.

Gérard Kikoïne, who was an editor
before becoming a director,

told us that he had used
the same scene dozens of times

in many different films.

We're in search of the lost shot.

I wish you the best of luck
finding it.

Let's watch the trailer for a film
whose title speaks for itself.

It's a totally erotic film

that was shown in theaters.
It even had several releases,

because at the time
of L'Exécutrice,

it was re-released on video
under the title L'Exécutrix.

Let's watch the trailer
for Touchez pas au zizi.

- That's crass.
- Yes, that's crass.

The film isn't too good,
but Brigitte is great in it.

HANDS OFF THE WILLY

A burlesque and ironic comedy
with atmosphere that's sensual.

Quite sensual.

An erotic film
with a style that's different.

Quite different.

Gallic sauciness mixed with
Swedish shamelessness.

An unusual story.
An insolent and licentious tale.

The extraordinary adventure
of Achille.

He's soft, he's a dreamer.
He's a good boy.

He loves women, but alas!
He's a disaster in bed.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

Until the day
the fairy Erotica appears.

With one wave of her magic wand…

Achille becomes
Supersex himself.

Touchez pas au zizi

A stream of disturbing situations.

An innocent little lie causing
an avalanche of funny complications.

HANDS OFF THE WILLY

A gallant and libertine journey

with voluptuous and enterprising
girls found along the way.

Touchez pas au zizi,

a titillating, sparkling, spicy film.

A film that will arouse your desires.

HANDS OFF THE WILLY

Coming soon.

Was we just saw
is a fatwa against Brigitte.

Many thanks to Emmanuel Rossi

who had this trailer
in his personal collection.

It's not the version
he put at our disposal,

because his copy had
hardcore inserts spliced in

with bits of tape
directly onto the film,

which came from other sources entirely.

We didn't show it to you
because it's besides the point.

That is interesting. They are
hardcore inserts for the trailer,

in order to pre-excite the audience,

but the hardcore inserts
in the film itself aren't the same.

It's very unlikely
that they're the same.

The film itself is worth
its weight in peanuts.

There is a film that's
almost a cousin to this one,

because Patrice Rhomm, the director,

explained to us that he would always
shoot two films at the same time.

That way he would only hire one crew,
and likely used a single location,

and shot two films that way.

There is another film that came out
within weeks of the other one,

called Le Bijou d'amour.

The Love Jewel

A film that opens up the most
secret doors of sexual inferno.

Le Bijou d'amour

A mysterious ring
holding evil powers

making the most perverted
fantasies a reality.

Casanova's ring,
which gives its wearer

the ability to seduce all women.

Having surrendered to the obscene
temptations of seven lustful she-devils,

a man dares to face these succubi,

demonic creatures who
suck the energy from their victims.

Le Bijou d'amour

The round of deadly
and heady sins.

A dizzying dive into the murky
sensory realm of repressed desires.

On an assignment for
Strange Secrets,

a reporter is taken prisoner
by a Satanic cult.

How to escape from the sick
and depraved seductresses

emanating from his own mind?

Le Bijou d'amour

Orgies and magic.

Adventure and lust.

Vice and abuse.

As with vampires,
the succubi's greatest strength

is that no one believes
in their existence.

And yet…

Le Bijou d'amour

The most fantastical
erotic film.

The most erotic fantasy film.

Succumb to the temptation.

Come and see
Le Bijou d'amour.

Coming soon.

Strictly forbidden
to anyone under 18.

The Love Jewel

This erotic film also evokes
a characteristic of the parts you've had

throughout your career
after adult films,

which is that clearly, you had
no trouble taking your clothes off.

No.

It was a superpower
that was very much appreciated

around the time you started.

Namely by Jean Rollin,

whose signature
was naked vampires.

That was my work ethic.

If you ask me to get undressed,
I get undressed.

I don't see where the problem is.

I can tell you a story.

I was part of a jury…

At the Grand Rex theater,
there was a fantasy film festival

and one year, I was part of the jury.

It was around '86, I think.

It was a horror film festival,

and I can assure you
those kids were out of control

and would throw cans

of soda or beer at the stage.

I was told, "You'll see,
it'll be dramatic," etc.

I get onstage,
and everyone starts yelling,

"She's got no panties on!"

I was wearing a miniskirt.

I did have panties on, so I lifted
my miniskirt and showed my panties.

And then…
Well, everyone applauded

and they threw cans
at everyone but me.

So being able to undress is useful.

In those trailers, you're
announced as a Scandinavian.

That's something that was often…

In particular, there's this
Swiss German director

called Erwin C. Dietrich,

whom you worked with
on five occasions.

Yes, I made five erotic films,

which weren't at all pornographic,
by the way.

No, they're not.

And Erwin C. Dietrich…

- That was after my adult film career.
- Exactly.

After porn, you made
various erotic films.

Some of which are quite beautiful,
like the one some of us saw yesterday,

Erotica.

Erwin C. Dietrich was a sort of…

He's sometimes referred to
as the Swiss Roger Corman.

Because he's someone
who for some thirty years produced

exploitation films of all kinds.

At Nuit excentrique, they showed
a Swiss-Spanish Mad Max

called Mad Foxes,

then there's this series of five films,

at least three of which
you play a Swede in,

or are supposedly Swedish, along other
actresses who are just as French as you.

Then there's this women's prison film,
screening tonight at 9:30.

This is Tago Mago, a small island

off the South American shore,

now a prison island for…

CAGED WOMEN

You won't escape this place!

Even if you reach the sea…

it is infested with sharks!

Any escape attempt…

will be severely punished.

The island's commander…

is a beautiful, heartless woman…

who arouses love… and hate.

CAGED WOMEN

The girls are expecting us!

Leave him! You've won!

The President will kill you for this!

Mr President…

you're in grave danger.

Should I examine you thoroughly?

Yes… from top to bottom!

Is he dead?

Let's get out of here!

If you don't find them…

you'll pay for it with your own skin!

Where are you going?

There is no hope of escaping…

from this hell!

Do you remember
shooting with Erwin C. Dietrich?

Yes, it was quite good-natured.
He had this side of him…

I think that what he liked the most
was to see us running topless.

That made him very happy.

It was…

It was good-natured, really.

There was this Swiss precision,

meaning that the shoot

had a difficult schedule,
we'd get up early,

but I have good memories
of that man.

It was practical,
because we'd shoot

a dozen days, maybe 15,
we'd leave, come back…

- So conditions on the set were good?
- Yes, absolutely.

He knew what he wanted.
There was a script.

We had a sense that were making a film.

It was nice.

Tonight we'll watch
the sequel of a film

produced by Dietrich

and directed by Jess Franco,
in which Karine Gambier,

who plays the villain here,

played the poor prisoner who becomes
a torturer in order to survive, hence…

For those of you who are staying,
you'll understand what's going on.

It's interesting to think
that Erwin C. Dietrich

made a fortune with one film,

which is the first one
he made with you,

Secrets of a French Maid,

which is a remake
of a film he had made in '68.

That's right. As he told us,
he was on the verge of bankruptcy.

He directed a Maupassant
adaptation in '68.

A rather loose adaptation
which already was erotic,

but because it was impossible to make it
in 1968, he remade the film,

which saved his company
from bankruptcy in '80.

The Colonel's Nieces is the name
of the novel by Maupassant.

What's interesting is that because
he was frustrated with his '68 film,

the censorship board having cut out
everything he wanted to show in it,

once attitudes had changed in '79,
he remade the film with you.

So he put back in all the stuff
he couldn't show in the other one.

And that's how he made his fortune.

Why do I mention this?

It's because later, he asked himself,
"What am I going to do with this money?

"What do I like doing?
I like making films.

"With naked girls running in the woods."

So he made four more.

It's a beautiful story,
because here's a man

who made exactly
what he wanted to make.

So at the end of your…

Once your adult film career was over,
you got various proposals.

Many of those were for erotic films.

So there was Erotica
and Dietrich, and at the same time,

you also started going through casting

and getting hired on various
productions in minor roles,

but we start seeing you
alongside Alain Delon or…

Yes, but in fact,
I didn't answer many casting calls.

It was more through meeting people
that I would end up in films.

For example, when I appeared
in For a Cop's Hide,

in which I have a small part…

You will hear the call at 15:00.

Go down to the reception
and you'll see Dr Malvou.

- Very well. Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Actually, it's because…

one of my best friends
was Alain's mistress.

So Alain hired both of us,
and that was that.

It's not…

It's not at all because
I'd gone through casting.

Anyway,
I didn't answer casting calls,

because I was not at all
recognized as an actress,

so the films I did make

were always thanks
to connections I had.

Porn films also.

But we can talk about that
some other time.

What about the Verneuil film,
I as in Icarus?

I as in Icarus, I shot in '77.

Which means I was still making
porn films, but it's similar.

My friend at the time

was a dermatologist

and one of his patients
was the casting director.

That's how I got the part.

I assure you, it's the truth.

It's funny.
I had a peculiar life.

You know how to use your connections.

Yes. Well, it all happened naturally.

Then there's this period
which you describe as rather difficult,

between '83 and '85,

during which you didn't work
enough to your liking.

'82, even '81.
Even '80, maybe even before that.

Sorry.

No, but it's true.
From the moment I quit porn in '80,

I left the man I was with,
and he was making good money,

so surviving was a bit complicated.

Up until '84, '85 even.

That's when you start landing
more important parts.

Once again, thanks to
someone I knew, René Chateau,

because René Chateau
bought a lot of video rights.

For example Joy and Joan.

I had met, and was friends with

the author of the book
Joy and Joan,

but the producer, Benjamin Simon,
was not too keen on hiring me

because of my career in porn
and whatnot.

It's because René Chateau
had bought the film's video rights

that I got the part, to tell the truth.

Your relationship with René Chateau
was also personal,

since you also lived with him, and
he had a large impact on your career.

Yes, absolutely.

He then produced Faceless…

He produced Faceless.

First he was a distributor,

of titles like L'Exécutrice,
for example.

Yes.

In the case of L'Exécutrice,
he bought the video rights,

but above all, he made a new poster.

Yes. We don't have a poster to show you,
but it will be in the book.

Between the original poster
and the one by René Chateau,

his mark is visible.

That's true.
He applied certain techniques…

Many of you know René Chateau.

Nicolas, can you quickly
explain who he is?

René Chateau is a distributor
and a producer.

He is known for his publishing company

with a panther against
a yellow background.

For people of Guillaume
and Cédric's age,

it is seared in their psyches.

He's also the one who,
through his promotional work,

introduced Bruce Lee
to French audiences,

in his cinema, the Hollywood Boulevard
located in the Grands Boulevards.

To go back to the poster
for L'Exécutrice,

he also was for 15 or 18 years…

For 18 years he was
Belmondo's associate.

He was responsible for Belmondo's image.

He designed himself most of
the posters for Bébel's films.

He started his career in film
as a publicist.

He was a publicist for…

The first film he worked on
was Bonnie and Clyde.

Exactly. He worked on the release
of Bonnie and Clyde.

The Gainsbourg song
was his initiative, by the way.

He's the one who contacted Gainsbourg
and pitched the idea.

He's a film lover, a cinephile.

He also did
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

He's the one who released
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in France.

For René Chateau, VHS was an opportunity

to give some visibility to films
that didn't bend to censorship rules.

Extremely violent films, for example.

So there's also Maniac.

Flesh for Frankenstein.

Yes, probably.

Wasn't there a Romero?

He also did a George Romero.

Tinto Brass films also,
like Salon Kitty.

He came up with a magical tagline
for his collection:

"All the films you'll never
see on television."

When we were young
and weren't allowed to…

That made us dream.
It's a different register, but anyway.

Like Hunting Parties in Sologne.

I would see the title in Vidéo 7…

So indeed, he was responsible
for Belmondo's image,

his image during the most commercial
phase of his career, as Bébel.

Cop movies with a huge gun
and a leather jacket.

Not the Belmondo from Godard films or…

or from Resnais' Stavisky.

They had a falling out
around the time you met René.

Yes, absolutely.

And it wasn't because of me.

We'll talk about Faceless

because it's an interesting film,

and it's one that largely contributed,

especially overseas,
in Germany and in England,

to your image as a cult actress.

But also in France.

But just before that,
let's watch a short video

we made during the campaign
for the book.

It includes many images

from films of that period,

where you're also a bit
of an action star.

Let's watch a video called

Mais qu'est-ce qui fait
courir Brigitte?

Just what is making Brigitte run?

Before Faceless,

there was your second film
with Jess Franco.

We talked about the previous one

which didn't give you
any lasting memories,

called I Burn All Over.

No.

However, your second film
with him was more ambitious.

It's a jungle adventure film
called Dark Mission.

It was produced by
a French production company

called Eurociné.

Can you tell us a bit about them?

So, Eurociné…

If you've ever been to a funfair,

you can picture the barker
trying to sell you the bearded woman,

and telling you,

"Come, come and see!
Trust me, it's a great show!"

So you enter the shack…

There is no bearded woman,
or it's a woman wearing a fake beard.

Eurociné, with their films,
is pretty much that.

Earlier, when were talking
about pornographic inserts,

we mentioned the abusive
re-use of footage.

Eurociné, even if officially they
never made pornographic films,

also did that with their films,
their actions films, etc.

When we spoke to them about this,

they told us, "But sir,
when a scene is well-made,

"if it was expensive,
what's the point of shooting it again?"

They would re-use footage
both in trailers and in films.

Earlier on you had made
a film with Eurociné

called Rape: The Great Fear.

It's a social problem film.

An indictment of rape.

Exactly yes.
In which I castrate a man.

Where you avenge yourself
in a truly radical way.

That's called a spoiler.

That's not giving away the ending.

That's not a spoiler.

It's the principle of the genre
that calls for it.

The genre wants your revenge.

To plead against rape is to speak up.

To tell things as they are.

To condemn the silence.

The fact that women remain silent.

Because we've accomplished the feat

of turning rape into
the only crime in the world

whose perpetrator feels innocent

and whose victim feels shameful.

Help!

Rape.

A problem that concerns…
all of you.

What will I become now?

My life is ruined.

You, me, all of us.

Rape.

An authentic reenactment
of real events.

Images of despair.

We've arrived, haven't we?

And of vengeance.

I was going to castrate them like pigs.

Like the filth they are.

A familiar story.

I have to find a way, Mom!
I can't keep this child!

- I don't want to!
- Calm down.

We'll find a way. We'll see.
We'll think about it. We have to.

These harrowing stories
will trouble you.

They are nonetheless true.

Their violence…

their audacity…

will surprise you.

They are nonetheless true.

Rape.

A must-see testimony.

- And you didn't defend
yourself. - I did.

- They raped you anyway?
- Yes.

You didn't call for help?

Of course I did,
but the place is isolated.

It's as if you chose it
as deserted as possible.

What you're insinuating is horrible.

Rape.

With Rika Dunkan

Joëlle Le Quément

Joan N'Guyen

Maria Catalard

and Brigitte Lahaie.

So yes, Eurociné…

There is a metaphor that
Daniel Lesœur often used.

Eurociné was a family company
founded by Marius Lesœur,

who was a carnie, by the way,

which his son Daniel later took over.

He was also a skilled shoemaker.

He'd say, "A shoemaker must
make shoes that the public likes,

"but they can't be too expensive,

"otherwise there won't be any
leather left to make the next pair."

But at the same time,
even in the case of Erwin Dietrich,

these were people who,

according to their abilities,
were trying to make films.

According to their abilities, of course.

So we get Dark Mission,

where, in their own way,
they tried to make a superproduction.

For many years, Eurociné
would make five films per year.

Indeed, to would re-use
a lot of material.

Around the mid-'80s, they decided…
The market changed.

That's around the time neighborhood
cinemas were starting to close,

and television took over.

Cinemas could no longer
absorb so many films.

So Eurociné decided to make less films,
to make only one per year,

with more stars,
and sold internationally.

It's within this context that
Dark Mission is made in 1987.

With a gallery of stars.

Jess Franco is a director who made…

he's credited with directing
over 200 films.

It's a little hard to keep track of

because he used around
50 different pseudonyms.

Some of those pseudonyms took
inspiration from his passion for jazz.

Which means that if you reconstitute
Jess Franco's pseudonyms,

you end up with a rather
varied big band.

So we've got Jess Franco,
but in Dark Mission,

we also have a somewhat
heavyweight cast.

- There's Christopher Lee.
- Hammer's own Christopher Lee.

Unfortunately, he left us before
we got the chance to interview him.

I was going to say Christopher Lee
from Star Wars.

Yes.

In the film, you've got more scenes
with Mr Mitchum.

Yes, but that's Christopher Mitchum,
Robert Mitchum's son.

Who does vaguely
resemble him, but…

There's also a Spanish actress,
Cristina Higueras,

who's well-known in Spain.

So the casting is…
And there's Brigitte from France.

The casting is done
in order to make the film

as profitable as possible
in many different regions.

The plot is one where
a wily and cynical CIA agent

is sent to undermine
and bring down a drug cartel

that was set up by a former companion
in arms of El Che, Christopher Lee,

who has gone insane
after the death of his wife

and in his spare time
has gotten into drug-dealing.

Do you know how your mother died?

- I always told me that…
- I never told you the truth.

Your mother was killed
by American imperialists

a few days after your birth.

They killed all the leaders
of the Revolution.

They killed them all. Che Guevara,
everyone. Everyone!

Except for me.

On the ground, the CIA agent,

who has some peculiar techniques…

What are you doing here?

I want to be with you,
but if you want me to leave…

You were following me.
You switched cars.

Of course, since you've got mine.

… meets his contact.

It's a very beautiful scene, by the way.

You're the agent.
You're not seen at first.

We only see your eyes in a ray of light.

It's one of most beautiful shots of the
film, which has Franco's signature.

It's a progressive and almost
mysterious appearance.

Play their game, and don't forget about
the rendezvous tomorrow morning.

361 Bolivar avenue.

How do I get in touch with you?

Don't worry about that.

Count up to 10 before making a move
or you'll regret it.

Yes, I know.

It's a subdued film.

You weren't asked to get undressed,
as it was meant to be an all-ages film.

No, I wasn't.
The worst you get is a bikini.

The worst…

There are some remarkable
action scenes

where you use a giant machine gun,
which I think is Russian.

I don't remember, but yes.

There are helicopters from Aérospatiale.

Thanks to persuasive abilities
above what one might expect of him,

Daniel Lesœur managed to convince

a commercial representative
from Aérospatiale

he'd met at the Bourget trade fair

to provide some stock shots
of their new Super Puma helicopter

and of a few others,

because it's not the same
helicopter in every shot.

Stock shots are the short bits…

Or rather when you take footage

that does not come from the main shoot.

Meaning that when you don't have too
much money, you use a stock shot.

Orson Welles used them
in his own way in F for Fake,

but the result in these types
of commercial films is:

"Oh! Look."
Shot. Reverse shot. Stock shots.

What's also interesting at the beginning
of Eurociné's Dark Mission

is that at one point, since
you were talking about Che Guevara,

we've got Chris Mitchum
watching archival footage

in sepia tone

with a voice-over
that's supposed to be…

At one point, we zoom in.
"Pay attention to this person!"

We're supposed to believe
it's a computer,

that it's a synthesized voice.
It goes on for 10 minutes.

Those who made a pledge for the book
will receive a Dark Mission DVD,

which was made to coincide
with the book from a new master.

We went to a lot of trouble,

but you may have to skip over
that sequence

because it is torture
for the ears, especially.

There is a question I'd like to ask.

Earlier, you were saying,
regarding the making of love films,

as Gérard Kikoïne calls them,

that there was a family atmosphere.

On shoots for productions
like Eurociné's,

was there also that kind of atmosphere?

Or were you surrounded
by craftspeople

who would constantly say no?

Dark Mission had a friendly shoot.

It's always the same thing.

When you're making films

with a rather small crew,

immediately, it feels more like family.

While on the other hand,
I remember the shoot

of Henri Verneuil's I as in Icarus,

where I had practically
no interaction with the director.

I was dealing with the first assistant,
maybe even lower.

It's the same with Yves Montand.

Otherwise he would have been
chasing after a broom.

It's not the same.

I played in a Gérard Oury,
for example.

I have one scene in
The Umbrella Coup.

Likewise, I barely had the chance to…

The pool scene.

In small films like this one,
you know the whole crew.

René Chateau is impressed
with Dark Mission,

- He visits you on the set.
- Absolutely.

And he decides to hire
Jess Franco on the spot.

I think that for a long time

René wanted to really produce a film.

I even think he wanted,
although he never allowed himself,

to become a director.

With Jess Franco,
he realizes you can make a film

with a lot less resources
than a Belmondo film, obviously.

I think he thought to himself,

"I won't make a film
with a Belmondo budget,

"but I'll make a film
with a vastly superior budget

"than Dark Mission and Eurociné."

That's how he got the idea
to make Faceless.

It's true that the principle
behindFaceless

is a film with a prestigious
and international cast,

with a strong story,
but multiplied by ten,

relative to Eurociné.

He had the means.

But they weren't unlimited either.
It wasn't a cornucopia.

It's a film he financed entirely
on his own, without any help.

It's got a relatively small budget
for a French film,

but it's a film with a much larger
budget than Dark Mission.

I think it was shot in six weeks,

whereas we only had 15 days
to shoot Dark Mission.

We have to recognize
the talent at play in bis cinema.

I don't even know how they managed
to make films in fifteen days.

And they still looked like films.

The looked like films
made by professionals.

It's also the case with Jean Rollin.

The Night of the Hunted, for example,
took fifteen days to shoot.

When you see the film,
you ask yourself how it was pulled off.

The Night of the Hunted
was a bet with his distributor

that he'd manage to make
a fantasy film on a porn film's budget.

Which is great. It's a very
interesting Jean Rollin film.

We talked about it yesterday.

Yes, it's a film that…
It's a film.

I'm not crazy about it, but..

On Faceless,
the budget is visible onscreen.

That's what René Chateau wanted.

It's artful.
It's a surprisingly tame film.

You're alongside Anton Diffring
and Helmut Berger.

There's also Caroline Munro
who starred in Maniac,

and who's quite sultry,

and Florence Guérin,
who'd just made The Click.

Look. Isn't that
Florence Guérin, the actress?

Yes, that's her alright.

Actresses are crazy.

They'll do anything
to get famous.

And when they are,
they hide behind dark glasses.

In terms of eroticism,
there's especially

a quick and rather furtive kiss
between you and Florence Guérin,

Otherwise, we don't see anything.

It's quite surprising.

It's also quite surprising
coming from Jess Franco,

who was never one to be shy.

It wasn't an erotic film.

It was a fantasy film, a horror film.

There wasn't especially
any reason to show scenes…

I understand your disappointment, but…

When you've got Caroline Munro,
Florence Guérin and Brigitte Lahaie,

you might think…

When you know so much.

René Chateau told us

that it wouldn't serve the film's
purpose to see…

Especially since…

You've told me that there
could have been a way

for him to accept
a higher level of eroticism.

It even was a game between Helmut and I.

We told ourselves,
"Why don't we shoot a scene?"

Helmut Berger was handsome, after all.

I guess René was too jealous.
That must be why. It's a shame.

Something wasn't too clear. What
exactly did Helmut Berger want to do?

We both agreed
and we'd spoken to René about it.

We wanted to shoot a scene,
a real erotic scene.

I don't know how far we would have gone,
but we thought it was a fun idea.

He says,
"No, it wouldn't have worked."

René Chateau?

He says, "No, no, we thought about it.

"We talked about it,
but it wouldn't have worked."

I'm not good at impressions,
so I won't try.

It's one of the paradoxes of the film,
which also makes it interesting.

It's an ambitious film
that has a certain register.

The same car is often seen, an R25.
Which may have been his.

I don't know
if he owned an R25 at the time.

We see this one car
that belongs to different characters.

Really? No, he didn't drive an R25.

In any case, someone
on this shoot had an R25.

However, there are special effects.

- Don't you know everything?
- We forgot.

On the other hand,
there are special effects

of a quality that's rarely been seen
in French productions.

Incidentally it was the source
of a small quarrel

between René Chateau and Jess Franco,
to give them their respective credit.

I think it was René who found…
Gastineau, was it?

Jacques Gastineau.

The photos we'll include in the book,

which he provided us,
show him during the shoot,

very much involved
in preparing the special effects.

With the famous giant drill.

There's this guy with
an absolutely unbelievable face

who's only been in two films.

Cross with Michel Sardou.

Michel Sardou made movies.

A cop movie from the '80s
where he's a hard badass,

a little like L'Exécutrice.
It was that era.

It was in fact the era
when you made L'Exécutrice,

in which you play a detective
with perfunctory methods.

It was around the time

when Belmondo and Alain Delon
were about to hang up their gloves,

taking some respite from their
status as French action stars.

The spot seemed
to have opened up, since…

Daniel Auteuil, for example,
was a contender for the job

in Sergio Gobbi's L'Arbalète.

Or in Les Fauves.

Francis Huster…
There also was Florent Pagny.

In Justice de flic.

Robin Renucci.

Robin Renucci and even Frank Dubosc.

In film called…

Blessures? Is that it?
No, Blessures, was with Florent Pagny.

Justice de flic was with Dubosc.

So why not Brigitte?

Exactly.
It was a much wiser choice, even.

Let's talk about…

Let's talk about
the last part of your career.

It's when you started to find your voice

in professional realms
outside of cinema.

To find my voice, literally.

Yes, literally.

In particular with an interlude
that's somewhat outside

of your career, which is mostly
confined to genre cinema.

It's this film in which…

in which you played,
under Haydée Caillot's direction.

It was produced for Arte
by Eric Rohmer,

and it's called Les Volets bleus.

Let's watch the trailer.

Jacques Mandréa, Brigitte Lahaie,

who are you in this film,
Les Volets bleus?

- I'm Christian.
- And I'm Anne.

How would you summarize this film?

I would say that…

It's about a man
desperately seeking to get raped.

And I'd say it's about a man desperately
seeking to make you believe the inverse.

Ah. And how do you go about
doing that?

We can't tell you, but in any case,
we try to be funny.

Moving.

Sensual.

Even impertinent.

Impertinent?
And where does all of this take place?

It all happens behind
the blue shutters.

And around them, too.

The voice we hear off-camera

belongs to Jean-Luc Revol,
who you could perhaps…

Jean-Luc Revol was a rookie
assistant on the film.

He since has become
a stage director of some renown.

Incidentally, he was your partner

and director on your one-woman show.

My one-woman show.

That's something that few people know.

No. It was a show that I performed
mostly at the Point Virgule.

It's true that I didn't have a long run.

But it shows the diversity
of your output.

Yes.

Because reciting a text
onstage for a whole hour

in front of an audience
is not like making a film.

- Wouldn't you agree?
- Yeah.

That being said, she has
a daily radio show.

It's around that time that

with regards to traditional cinema…

you decide to stop waiting for
traditional cinema.

Then again, this is a curious film.

I look back on this film
with tenderness.

I love this film

because I think it's where
my abilities as an actress

to play with different registers,
are the most visible.

I got this part
because I do astrology,

and the director
is also an astrologist.

In fact, I had been on the cover
of an astrology magazine.

That's how Haydée Caillot
contacted me.

She insisted on having me
and was met with great resistance

because clearly,
it wasn't easy for Eric Rohmer

to accept that I play that part.

Again, it's through some
curious coincidence

that I was cast in this film.

It does indeed show

a side of your abilities as an actor,

which unfortunately haven't been
put to good use often enough.

It's their loss.

It's their loss.

One of the paradoxes of your fame

is that it becomes much more important

more or less around the time

when you decide to,
or rather stop making films,

or are close to leaving film behind.

In fact, I didn't stop making films.

It's the industry that no longer
has anything to offer me.

So I stepped aside,

and started doing other things.
I wrote some books.

What helped me survive

was that I started answering questions
through Minitel, and on the phone.

It was the era of 08 numbers.

I would answer sexology questions.

- 3615 LAHAIE.
- Yes, 3615 LAHAIE.

Each day, I would answer questions
from regular people.

It's how I learned the ropes as a…

I don't want to say sexologist,
because I wouldn't call myself that,

but yeah, I didn't know exactly
how things would turn out

but I was…

I was waiting for a signal.

There's this moment,
this turning point

that opened up other doors for you
professionally.

It's when you published
your autobiography.

That was in 1987.
It was a bit before all that.

It's a book I wrote
because I was a bit fed up

by how each time I'd do an interview,

for L'Exécutrice, for example,
I'd be asked about my past.

I didn't particularly like…
I didn't mind talking about it,

but I found that the questions
were always a bit insidious.

It wasn't clear.

Because I've always been
uncompromising, I told myself,

"I'll write my autobiography. That way,
at least it will be written down.

"Yes, I made porn films. So what?"

It's funny, because at the time,
René Chateau told me,

"Have you gone completely mad?
You'll burn yourself for good."

I don't know, I felt it was
important to release that book.

I incidentally got help
from the author of Joy.

He helped me write this book,
because I'd never written before.

The book was a phenomenal success,
undoubtedly thanks to Bernard Pivot,

because I'd been invited
to go on Apostrophe.

It freed me quite a bit from meeting
with the press and the media.

It's how I got onto the small screen.

I started to appear quite often
on very popular television shows.

I was on Les Grosses Têtes,
on Patrick Sébastien's shows,

on Christophe Dechavanne, etc.

Suddenly I entered mass media
as a sort of…

I was being invited because it was…

the show's somewhat scandalous side.

Little by little,

the general public became
more and more aware of my name.

I owe a lot to Antoine de Caunes,
and that's an interesting story.

Antoine de Caunes at the time did
Nulle part ailleurs on Canal+,

and simply put, he kept mentioning me.

For example,
he'd tell a seaman,

"Yes, you're going at 15 knobs per hour,
like Brigitte Lahaie."

The jokes were always…
It was always very funny.

I'm very fond of Antoine de Caunes.

I've met a lot of people who told me,

"At one point, we'd constantly
hear 'Brigitte Lahaie'.

"Just who is this Brigitte Lahaie?"

He played an enormous role
in getting people to know me.

Absolutely. This goes along
the same lines

as what we were talking about earlier.

Which is to say that
people from our generation

heard a lot about you,

and we also heard you,
we saw you on television…

more and more frequently.
You'd speak up, take position,

appearing clearly as a strong,
intelligent, determined woman,

knowing at the same time
that you'd done what you did.

That, for the young men that we were,
had an effect…

I think it's widespread.
It's something that we…

It's one of the main ingredients
that make up your status.

It's the theory we've been
working on for two years.

We've had a lot of evidence pointing
to that, many people's accounts.

Regarding your status…

It's because you are who you are.

It's not only through
the fortunate chain or circumstances

that allowed you to star

in adult films at the most blessed era

of the brief history
of pornographic cinema

that you had this truly unique career.

There aren't many French actresses
who have had such a diverse trajectory,

albeit a brief one,
since it spans about 15 years.

Yes, something like that.

It's true that…

Today, I'm 60 years old.

When I look back on my life,
on my trajectory,

I feel like I've led multiple lives.
It's true.

Before proceeding to…

Burying me?

No! Before taking questions,
we'll show a short video.

I'll end up as ashes,
because I burned all over.

We'll watch a short video

called Toutes les
couleurs de Brigitte.

DISCOVER ALL THE COLORS
OF BRIGITTE LAHAIE

What have they done to you?

Ask no questions…

and you'll be told no lies!

Do we have time to take questions?

Yes? Does anyone have a question?

Good evening.
As you said earlier,

when you were making adult films,

it was a small family.

You were always together:
the same actors and actresses.

My question is:

other than you, all the other
actresses have disappeared.

Have you maintained friendships
with them?

Are you still in contact
with these actresses

you used to shoot films with

for a few years?

One last question,
second and last question:

what really motivated you
to quit shooting adult films?

Was it boredom?

Was it also because of the arrival
of the AIDS phenomenon,

since there were no preservatives
used in your films,

and there was protection back then.

In short, what made
you decide, "I quit"?

First of all, I barely have any news

from most of those actors and actresses.

I have a friend
who lives in Belgium now,

Erika Cool, with whom
I'm still very much in contact with,

and who was a very close friend
back in those days.

As for the others,
I don't know what they became.

Either Karine Gambier…

I know that Marilyn Jess is… but I…

Besides, I didn't make
too many films with her,

so I wouldn't say she was a friend.

There is only one actress.

There is one actor, Richard Allan,
who I'm still good friends with,

although we don't see each other often
because our lives are so different.

The reason I quit…
AIDS appeared quite a while later.

It appeared in '84. I quit in '80.

I must admit that the first time
I took a test,

I was quite relieved,

but that was much later,
so that's not why I quit.

I quit because I felt
I was beginning to…

More precisely, I realized

that it was a dangerous occupation

from which you don't come out unscathed,

and it was time for me to quit
if I wanted to make it out alright.

So I decided to quit.

The last film I made after I'd decided
to quit was Les Petites Écolières,

because Claude had me a promise.

It's awful, because it was right
when I decided to quit

that I got offers
from the United States,

but because I'd decided to quit,
I didn't respond to them.

Good evening. My question is simple:

how were you cast in
Jean-Jacques Beneix's Diva?

That's a good question,
because I don't remember.

I think…

I think that in this case,
I must have answered a casting call.

If Jean-Jacques Beneix chose me,
it's because he knew who I was.

But I…

At the time, I'd taken a pseudonym.
I think I was called Brigitte Simonin.

I must answered a few casting calls.

But if I was chosen, it really was
because of my past. He later told me.

But I thought I was incognito.

But yeah.

- Good evening.
- Good evening.

One gets the impression when you say
you were thumbing your nose

that it was something liberating,
a youthful experience.

When you consider young people today

with sex being explicit online,
omnipresent,

or implicit in publicity,

are there things that scare you,

are there things that give you hope

about the way young people
may find their voice

and their path, and become adults?

I think that…

I think that sexuality,
or rather sex in today's society

is rather anxiogenic for young people,

given that…

I always say that human sexuality
certainly has an animal component,

but it has a whole phantasmatic
component as well.

The problem with sex in today's society

is that it's not so
phantasmatic anymore.

Which unavoidably

gives many young people

an early sex life
that is rather mechanical.

Meaning that they'll masturbate
for five minutes to some images

without really using
their phantasmatic side.

And that's a bit unfortunate.

But I think that…

The problem of human sexuality
is that it is dangerous politically.

In the broadest sense.

I'm not going to give you
a political speech.

So what happens nowadays?

People are given sex and football,
and as a result, they're not liberated,

they don't build
a human identity.

They don't elevate themselves.

That's my opinion.

I think that the quality

of pornographic films
from '75 to '80,

and that's what Lacan said,

is that we tried to give people
a possibility to understand

that sex was not simply
three thrusts in a dark room.

You seem to also have love for animals.
You've always had dogs.

I also saw that you
do horseback riding.

Perhaps you could tell us
a bit about that?

Yes. I believe that my love
of nature, of animals,

although I was born in the city
and nothing in my upbringing…

I don't know where it comes from,

but I think that it's something
truly essential for me.

I do believe that when
we are close to nature,

we are closer to our own nature.

I think it's unfortunate
that many humans

forget that they are first and foremost
a body, a living thing.

If we over-intellectualize things,

we're perhaps missing out.

I know that…

For example, if I'm heartbroken,
I get up on a horse,

I go for a ride, then I live again.

There's something in…

Our relationships to animals
can't be faked.

Language makes us cheat enormously.

In our relationship to animals,
there is no language,

so there's always something real.

Good evening. We see horses
in some of the films

you've starred in.

Was that your idea, or the director's?

No, it was never my idea,
but I think it was used

precisely because people knew
I could rise a horse, I suppose.

For example, in La France interdite,

the trailer that you see,
it's the same thing.

It's a film that was
conceived by the author of Joy.

He had the idea to shoot
that sequence to end the film on

because he knew I could ride a horse

and that I wouldn't have a problem
with riding a horse in the nude.

And bareback.

No, there is a saddle.

Fantasies, fantasies!

Good evening.

Last night, before the screening
of Erotica,

you talked about
the ingenuity of youth.

I hope I'm not distorting your thoughts,
since you're in the film.

The film gives an image of women
that is nonetheless rather chauvinistic.

I was wondering if on
the pornographic films you made,

as well as on Erotica
and the later films,

if you at least had your say
as an actress

in what you were going to show onscreen,
either you or the other actors.

No, I didn't particularly have any say.
I may have refused certain things.

As I always say, for example…

In no pornographic film can you see me
perform an anal sex scene.

There were a few scenes
where a double was used

because I wanted to maintain
some privacy.

But no, I always did
what I was asked to do,

certainly with good humor
and spontaneity.

In any case, that's what
actresses do in principle.

I think that if I didn't go any further
in my acting career,

it's precisely because
I was a little too free.

There are a few roles I lost

because there were some concessions
I didn't want to make.

We'll show you…
Let's end with some videos.

First, we'll watch La Bassat,
then Saturday Night Erotica.

We should explain that
La Bassat, is…

I think everyone will remember.

- You think? - Yes. For those who don't
remember, it will come back to them.

Dad, can I have the car tonight?

Why isn't everything designed
like the Bassat?

Dad?

I…

Why isn't everything designed
like the Bassat?

Da…

That's a shame. The Bassat
has washable seat covers.

A long time ago,
in a very, very trendy nightclub....

Hey, Monti,
what are you playing that shit for?

What are you talking about, baby?

Look at that chick, she's dancing, man.
She's grooving.

- Joey.
- Yeah.

You know that girl?

No.

- You ever see her before?
- No.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I seen her here
about a month ago.

She can dance, you know that?

She got the wrong partner, of course,
but she can dance.

- Go ask her.
- Fuck you.

Yeah? Which position?

Who the hell's that guy?