Today, Monday, a collection of the personal belongings of the late French actress Brigitte Bardot will be displayed in Paris in an auction that recalls moments in the life of one of the most famous French film stars of the twentieth century, and reveals some of the details of her life away from the spotlight that accompanied her during decades of fame, according to the German News Agency.
Mellon Auctions said that more than 280 pieces of Bardot's collectibles will be offered for sale, including figurines, stuffed toys, personal memorabilia, and items she used in her daily life. The exhibits come from properties that the actress owned in Saint-Tropez, La Madragee, and La Garrigue, in addition to her Parisian apartment on Rue de la Tour.
Among the most prominent items on display is an Olivetti typewriter, which Bardot used to write the second part of her memoirs, along with Repetto ballet shoes, photos, memorabilia, and a collection of small personal items that reflect details from her private life.
The estimated value of the pieces ranges between 20 euros and 10 thousand euros, while the value of most of the exhibits is less than 100 euros. The proceeds from the auction go to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and to her only son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.
Bardot, who died on December 28, 2025, at the age of 91, made her fame in the 1950s and 1960s, and became one of the most prominent female faces in French cinema. Her international breakthrough came, especially with the film “And God Created Woman” in 1956, directed by Roger Vadim, which gave her a remarkable presence on the screen and made her name known outside France.
During her film career, Bardot participated in dozens of films; Among them are “Truth” and “Contempt” by director Jean-Luc Godard, in addition to comedic and dramatic works that established her image as one of the most prominent stars of European cinema at that stage.
But Bardot decided, at a relatively young age, to move away from the film industry, ending her artistic career when she was thirty-nine years old, and increasingly turning to defending animal rights. In 1986, she founded a foundation bearing her name, dedicated to protecting animals and combating their abuse.
The current auction provides an opportunity for cinema audiences and memorabilia collectors to view collectibles related to different stages of Bardot’s life. From her years of cinematic fame, to her private life and her activism in the field of animal welfare. Between a typewriter, ballet shoes, simple photos and memorabilia, the displayed pieces recall a personal aspect of the life of a star whose presence remained linked to the history of French cinema, even after she left the screen.
Not all documentaries are born from a cinematic idea. Some of them come from the heart of a personal experience that is difficult for their owners to understand before narrating it. Among them is the Swiss documentary “I LOVE YOU, I LEAVE YOU,” by Swiss director Maurice Freiburghaus, which approaches bipolar disorder through its most sensitive angles, not from the perspective of the patient alone, but from the perspective of a friend who stands helpless as he watches someone he has known for many years change before his eyes.
The film, which was shown at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, is not preoccupied with explaining the disease or searching for its causes, as much as it contemplates its impact on human relationships, where friendship becomes a daily test, and the most pressing question becomes: How can we stand next to the one we love, without confiscating his freedom or losing him at the same time?
The events of the film begin with the Swiss-Angolan musician Dino Brandao, who returns to Angola, the birthplace of his father, after more than 15 years of absence, to perform a concert. However, the journey, which begins as a return to the roots and the restoration of part of his family identity, gradually turns into a confrontation with questions of belonging and memory, before it leads him to a new episode of mania that turns his life upside down.
As he returns to Switzerland, his family and friends find themselves facing a very complex reality, as they try to help him overcome his manic episode and keep him from returning to the psychiatric hospital. Through this journey, the film approaches all the characters without prejudice. It does not side with one party over another, nor does it look for a hero or a victim, as much as it traces the burdens that the disease imposes on everyone surrounding the afflicted person, where every decision, no matter how right it seems, becomes questionable, and no answer seems final or reassuring.
Swiss director Maurice Freiburghaus reveals, in a Zoom interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, that the film began as an extension of his friendship with Swiss-Angolan musician Dino Brandao more than 20 years ago.
He says that they grew up together and witnessed many stages in each other's lives, including the seizures that Dino went through, which made the idea of turning this experience into a film a very sensitive decision for him, because this time the camera was going to be close to a friend he knows well, and not to a character he meets just for the sake of filming.
He adds, "The initiative came from Dino himself, after he was discharged from a psychiatric hospital, where he was spending a period of treatment that included days of isolation. As soon as he got his mobile phone back, he sent me a short message in which he wrote, 'It's time for the second part.'"
He explains that this phrase was understandable only to them, as they had previously completed more than 10 years ago a short feature film inspired by the first episode of mania that Dino experienced, and that experience was an attempt to comprehend what they had lived together more than a cinematic project. Therefore, he realized immediately after reading the letter that his friend was not simply proposing a new film, but rather inviting him to complete a story that began years ago, but this time from the heart of reality, not by re-enacting it.
Freiburghaus admits that he did not share his friend's enthusiasm from the first moment, as he visited him after he left the hospital, but he left convinced that Dino was still under the influence of a manic episode, and that any decision he made at that stage could not be considered a complete expression of his will.
He adds, "The project was postponed for about 6 months, until Dino regained a degree of stability, and only then did the real work on the film begin, but even at that stage the final form had not yet crystallized, as the original plan was completely different from what the audience saw later."
He reveals that his first vision was based on reconstructing the previous episode through interviews with family members and close ones, and using medical documents, so that the film goes back to the past and tries to dismantle it. However, the course of events imposed another direction. While he was conducting research interviews with Dino and his family, the latter experienced a new episode of mania, which prompted the team to rethink the entire project.
The director believes that “that moment was the real turning point, because the film stopped reliving what happened, and began to live what is actually happening,” noting that “the decision to film came in response to a reality that imposed itself on everyone, and therefore the work gained its sincerity, because he did not try to create drama, but rather found it unfolding in front of him day after day,” according to what he said.
However, the biggest transformation, according to Freiburghaus, was not so much artistic as it was moral. As the stages of the work progressed, he found himself facing a more complex question than any cinematic question: Does he have the right to reveal this amount of the privacy of his closest friends in front of the audience?
He says, "Contrary to what some might think, I was the most hesitant person within the project. I did not stop asking Dino if he was sure he wanted to make the film, and then show it to the public. Filming is a stage that can be undone, but releasing the film means that the story will become the property of the viewers."
Freiburghaus recalls the most difficult moment he faced during filming, stressing that it was not related to the making of the film as much as it revealed the fragility of the boundaries separating the director and the friend, pointing out that the most cruel scene occurred when the police stopped Dino in front of his eyes during one of his bouts of mania, while he found himself unable to approach him or even intervene to help him, contenting himself with watching what was happening from afar.
He confirms that this incident prompted him to rethink the way the story should be told, as he refused to search for alternative images or re-enact what happened, preferring to convey the event as it is, through a short text that appears on the screen, leaving the viewer space to imagine its details, instead of imposing an image that might detract from its human honesty.
