Come Dance with Me (1959 film)

Come Dance with Me! (French: Voulez-vous danser avec moi? Italian release "Sexy Girl") is a 1959 French-Italian drama film directed by Michel Boisrond and starring Brigitte Bardot. The film is based on the novel The Blonde Died Dancing by Kelley Roos.

Come Dance with Me!
French theatrical release poster
Directed byMichel Boisrond
Produced byFrancis Cosne
Written byKelley Roos (novel)
Michel Boisrond
Gérard Oury
Jean-Charles Tacchella
L.C. Thomas
Based onThe Blonde Died Dancing by Kelley Roos
StarringBrigitte Bardot
Henri Vidal
Dawn Addams
Music byHenri Crolla
André Hodeir
CinematographyRobert Lefebvre
Edited byClaudine Bouché
Distributed bySofradis
Release date
France:
December 28, 1959
United States
November 7, 1960
Running time
91 minutes
CountryFrance
Italy
LanguageFrench
Box office3,196,005 admissions (France)[1]

Plot

Against her wealthy industrialist father Albert's wishes, young Virginie (Brigitte Bardot) marries dentist Hervé Dandieu (Henri Vidal). After three months, all passion has disappeared, and after an argument, Hervé leaves the house for a drink at a club. There, he is seduced by Anita Florès (Dawn Addams), a red-headed dance instructor. Unbeknownst to him, Anita is a scam artist who has sent her boyfriend Léon (Serge Gainsbourg) to photograph her in companionship with Hervé. Although Hervé eventually decides to stay faithful to his wife, Léon is able to take some pictures of their intimate moments.

Hervé refuses to give in to any of her attempts to blackmail him, until she calls him one night. Virginie and Albert overhear the conversation, after which Virginie concludes that her husband is having an affair. The next day, she follows him to Anita's dance studio, and when looking through the key hole, she spots Anita's murdered body next to Hervé, who is holding a gun. Hervé convinces her that he is not guilty and they flee the place of crime through the back door, although they are noticed by some of the staff members. To prove her husband's innocence, she charms Anita's husband Florès (Darío Moreno) into hiring her as a dance teacher in order to enable herself of finding more information.

While going through the studio, Virginie catches Léon stealing money from her wallet and overhears a conversation between Léon and his mistress Daisy (Maria Pacôme), who plan on misleading the detectives. After several investigations of the inspectors, Virginie is convinced that she has found the murderer through a letter. According to her, this man is Gérard Lalemand. Because the detectives do not believe her, she decides to contact Gérard herself. She talks to him over the phone and arranges a meeting, but when he fails to show up, she locates his residence, where she is told that Mr. Lalemand has been dead for over three years. Virginie realizes that she has been talking to Gérard's son (Georges Descrières), who is the same charming gay man whom she met earlier at the studio.

Meanwhile, Léon has been arrested for blackmailing Hervé. He admits that he is the mysterious person who left the studio over the roof on the night of the murder, but claims that Hervé is the guilty one. To Hervé's surprise, Albert proves his innocence to the detectives. In the meantime, Virginie believes that she has tracked Lalemand down to Blue Fetish, a gay nightclub where he is performing as a transvestite under the alias Daniel. Upon confronting him, she realizes that the man (Philippe Nicaud) is not Lalemand, and she leaves soon afterwards to return to his residence.

There, she finds out that the real Lalemand is an acquaintance to Florès and Daisy, who have given a false statement when Lalemand was still a suspect. Virginie is told that Anita was Lelemand's father's mistress and that she had permission to profit from Lelemand's $50 million inheritance while she was still alive. Therefore, Lalemand has sent his boyfriend Daniel to kill Anita. Hervé's innocence is proven, and he gratefully kisses his wife.

Cast

Production

Unlike her earlier films, for which she received a notably lesser salary, Brigitte Bardot demanded $200,000 when she was cast.[2] Sylvia Lopez was originally cast as Anita Florès, but terminal leukemia prohibited her from finishing the film. She withdrew after a few days of shooting, and was replaced by Dawn Addams.[3]

Reception

The film grossed $2 million, a dissatisfactory amount compared to Bardot's earlier films.[2] The flop inspired Raoul Lévy, the producer who made Bardot a star,[2] to stop his collaboration with Bardot.[2]

References
  1. Box office information for film at Box Office Story
  2. "Brigitte Bardot Washed Up, Says Man Who Made Her Star" by Joe Hyams, The Tuscaloosa News, February 21, 1961, p. 7
  3. "Trivia for Come Dance With Me! (1960)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
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