People lined the streets of Saint-Tropez on Wednesday, applauding because the coffin of French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot, who died final month aged 91, was pushed by the Riviera resort after her funeral.
Bardot shot to worldwide fame in her early 20s within the movie “And God Created Woman”, her tousled hair and fierce vitality radiating a sexual magnetism which captivated Fifties France.
Known affectionately as B.B. by many in France, Bardot’s roles made her not only a intercourse image, however a popular culture icon and a touchstone for altering social attitudes. She grew to become the primary superstar to mannequin for a bust of Marianne, the normal image of the French Republic that adorns French city halls.
“For me, Brigitte Bardot is France,” mentioned singer Mireille Mathieu, 79, who sang on the funeral. “She was the most beautiful woman in the world,” Mathieu instructed reporters, praising “that freedom she (Bardot) had, that boldness to say what she thought.”
At the funeral, within the city’s Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption church, a black-and-white image of Bardot hugging a child seal was on show, with the phrases “Merci Brigitte” (Thank you Brigitte), close to her coffin, coated in principally orange and yellow flowers. Outside, one man held a placard that learn: “The animals thank Brigitte Bardot”.
“It was really magnificent,” Bardot fan Fanny Wisselmann mentioned of the ceremony. “I found that it reflected Brigitte Bardot, it was simple, it was very respectful,” she mentioned. Displaying a tattoo of Bardot on her leg, Wisselmann, who lives in Frejus, about an hour’s drive away, mentioned she is such a fan it was unthinkable she would not be there to pay tribute.
ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, FAR-RIGHT SYMPATHIES
Bardot made the final of her 42 movies in 1973. Disenchanted with the trade, she declared the world of cinema “rotten”.
She grew to become a tireless crusader for animal rights whereas her political sympathies shifted to the far-right National Front. Incendiary remarks on immigration, Islam and homosexuality noticed her convicted a number of instances for inciting racial hatred.
Far-right chief Marine Le Pen was amongst these attending Wednesday’s funeral. Bardot had publicly endorsed the National Front’s successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine, whom she as soon as known as “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century”.
Aurore Berge, Macron’s minister for equality and a defender of animal rights, was there to symbolize the federal government. Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was additionally among the many visitors on the funeral.
PRIVATE BURIAL
After the funeral, Bardot was buried in strict privateness in a cemetery within the glitzy city the place she lived for a lot of her later life behind excessive partitions, surrounded by a menagerie of cats, canine and horses.
A tribute open to locals and followers came about later within the day on the Pre des Pecheurs space within the previous city quarter referred to as La Ponche, the historic heart of the former fishing village.
Bardot instructed Le Monde in 2018 that she wished to be buried in a quiet nook of her backyard. But the Var Prefecture mentioned it by no means obtained any request for a non-public burial, which might have been wanted to bury her in her backyard.
© Thomson Reuters 2026.