Looking back on Bardot's movies which were banned by the Office Catholique du cinema, it's sometimes difficult to understand what all the screaming was about ; it's certainly less hot and less "scandalous" than,say , Rita Hayworth in "Gilda".
This actress with un petit je ne sais quoi brought something new on the Gallic scene ,and perhaps one of the first manifestoes of woman's lib,showing a firm independence of men ,in fact burning with a desire to live as free as them ,considering the sexual act natural and no big deal .
Her way of life threatened the bedrocks of the French society ,the family ,the Church and the army.It would be even stronger when she was directed by great directors such as Claude Autant -Lara ("en cas de malheur" ) and most of all Henri-Georges Clouzot ("la vérité ", BB's favorite movie of hers ,and the one to choose if you want to undertand what she meant to the French audience ).
"En effeuillant la marguerite" can't be mentioned in the same breath ;it's a harmless comedy ,but it features a small rebellion against the establishment ,here represented by her father ,a general ,no less, who intends to rule his family with an iron hand ; the heroine 's brother has already left the family nest to become a would be painter ,and she too wants to leave her native Vichy for the broader horizons of Paris.
There are good funny moments : the visit of the Balzac museum by the brother/guide (although Darry Cowl is not very credible as BB's sisters ,he's palatable for once) , BB selling a rare signed copy of the writer's "le lys dans la vallée " ,an invaluable item from the museum ;her strip tease,principally showing the males salivating like Pavlov's dogs ,although it 's going to look chaste for today's audience .
Directed by Marc Allégret whose career spanned almost half a century and who made estimable works .
This film features future Bond Girl Luciana Palluzzi ("thunderball")as a shy Italian girl .
