Don Juan 73 ou si Don Juan était une femme

Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...)

Movie · 1973 · 3 people

Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (French: Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...) is a 1973 French-Italian co-production by Roger Vadim. Billed as an erotic drama, it runs about 90 minutes and exists in French and English-language versions. It is also known as Don Juan 73, as Ms. Don Juan in the English dub released in the UK, and in Turkey as Don Juan '74.

The premise retells the legend of the great seducer with the sexes reversed: the medieval lover-hero is reincarnated in a woman, which changes everything. Our heroine knows her own worth and can steer men as she pleases, yet that power does not make her happy. Brigitte Bardot plays the lead, joined by Jane Birkin, Robert Hossein, Mathieu Carrière and Maurice Ronet. The cast list also includes Dominique Zardi, Henri Attal, Paul Bisciglia, Michèle Sand, Robert Walker Jr. and Ann Zacharias.

Vadim wrote the screenplay with Jean Cau and directed. It was his fifth film with his former wife Bardot, whom he had made an international star with And God Created Woman in 1956, and it came just before Bardot retired from acting. The score is by Michel Magne, with music by Mozart also featured.

DirectorRoger Vadim

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Through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This is not a family film. It is billed as an erotic drama and its story is built entirely around seduction, so I would not watch it in the same room as children or grandparents. Big names like Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin may spark curiosity, but this is a film for adults. Grown-ups who enjoy older French cinema are better off watching it on their own.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Retelling the Don Juan legend with the sexes reversed is, on paper, a bold idea. The film puts at its centre a woman who can steer men as she pleases, yet it sidesteps an easy triumph story by saying that this power does not make her happy. The erotic-drama label raises a question, though: does Vadim, who made Bardot an international star with And God Created Woman, frame her this time as a strong subject or once again as an object of desire? That tension clouds the idea's liberating promise. For anyone interested in the star culture and image of women of its era, it is an intriguing document, but it cannot quite be said to move beyond the clichés it turns upside down.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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