Solar Flair ~ The Original Cannes Girl

By Marina Rybak

There are many hot places on the planet, yet during the month of May and this year from the 15th till the 26th the hottest spot of all is on the Côte d’Azur at Cannes. And to add to the temperature the prestigious Cannes Film Festival is followed by another “Glam” Slam event – tennis Roland Garros in Paris; unmistakably the French heat wave is on in full force!

The legendary celebration of the world cinema attracts broad public attention from all corners of the Earth. The highbrow screenings lure the audiences indoors, while the high-voltage “glamorama” of the open air sends the media and the adoring, loyal fans into the pleasurable, buzzing frenzy. For sixty-five years now, the brightest constellations of the international stars and starlets strut on the Promenade de la Croisette and the Red Carpet Steps, warming the globe with their luminescence.

But the original Cannes girl, Brigitte Bardot simply eclipsed the Sun. At first, in the early fifties, the virtually unknown youngster bedazzled American sailors, posing on the beach in a bikini. Looking so hot, she practically melted the beach sand into glass.  A few years later she became an instant sensation in her breakout role in “And God…Created Woman”, which premiered at the Cannes festival.  Whatever words you may choose to call her – a purring sex kitten, a riveting bombshell or the icon’s icon, Bébé is one of a kind. She made history and left the world speechless. I can only utter “Vive la France!” dreamily gazing east over the Atlantic.