GINETTE VINCENDEAU is Professor in Film Studies at King's College London. Her publications include La Haine (2005), Jean-PierreMelville: An American in Paris (2003) and Stars and Stardom in French Cinema (2000). She co-edited The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (2009) with Peter Graham and, with Alastair Phillips, A Companion to Jean Renoir (2013) and Journeys of Desire: European Actors in Hollywood (2006). She is the editor of the Cine-Files French Film Guides series and a regular contributor to Sight & Sound.

A serious and well-researched account of Brigitte Bardot as a movie star and cultural phenomenom.

• IntroductionChapter OneChapter one covers Bardot's training as a ballet dancer and early career as a fashion model, and rise to stardom. Chapter TwoChapter two examines Bardot's roles and performance style in the films she made during her period of 'high stardom' between 1956 and 1960. Chapter ThreeChapter three examines the second half of Bardot's cinematic career, from 1960 to her last film in 1973, when she took the decistion to stop acting. Chapter FourChapter four examines Bardot's long post-cinematic celebrity, which has clearly outlived her 'retirement' in 1973. ConclusionAppendices: FilmographyBox-office figures for Bardot's filmsBibliography