Memoirs of the devil

by Roger Vadim

Memoirs of the Devil

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Vadim was born as Roger Vadim Plemiannikov in Paris. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemiannikov (И́горь Никола́евич Племя́нников), a White Russian military officer and pianist, had emigrated from Ukraine and became a naturalized French citizen, and was a vice consul of France to Egypt, stationed in Alexandria. His mother, Marie-Antoinette (née Ardilouze), was a French writer, and essayist. Although Vadim lived as a diplomat's child in Northern Africa and the Middle East in his early youth, the death of his father, when Vadim was nine years old, caused the family to return to France, where his mother found work running a hostel in the French Alps, which was functioning as a way-station for Jews and other fugitives fleeing Nazism.

Vadim studied journalism and writing at the University of Paris, without graduating. At age 19, he became assistant to film director Marc Allégret, whom he met while working at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, and for whom he worked on several screenplays.

Vadim was celebrated for his romances/marriages to beautiful actresses. In his mid-30s, he lived with the teenaged Catherine Deneuve, by whom he had a child, Christian Vadim, prior to his marriage to Fonda.[6] He was also involved with actress Cindy Pickett. Later, he cohabited with screenwriter Ann Biderman for several years, announcing their engagement in 1984, but the couple never wed.

He told a story about how he lost his virginity. When he was 16, he spent the summer in Normandy, where an older girl took a fancy to him. Out of doors that night, she introduced him to the art of love and what amazed him most was that what Hemingway had written came true--"the earth moved under him". Not until somewhat later did he realize that Allied ships were bombarding the coast in preparation for the D-day invasion.

Marriages:-
Brigitte Bardot, 20 December 1952 – 6 December 1957 (divorced)

Annette Stroyberg, 17 June 1958 – 14 March 1961 (divorced); 1 daughter (Nathalie)

Jane Fonda, 14 August 1965 – 16 January 1973 (divorced); 1 daughter (Vanessa)

Catherine Schneider, 13 December 1975 – 10 June 1977 (divorced); 1 son (Vania)

Ann Biderman, Common Law Spouse (California)

Marie-Christine Barrault, 21 December 1990 – 11 February 2000 (his death)

He also had two stepsons from his marriage to Schneider (heiress to the Schneider-Creusot steel and armaments firm) as well as adult stepchildren from Barrault's first marriage to Daniel Toscan du Plantier, also a friend of Vadim's, who called him "a happy man. He was someone in whom there was so much satisfaction to the end of his life. The films merely reflected his happiness." Nathalie, his eldest child, told Fonda biographer Patricia Bosworth: "Jane was the love of my father's life."

In addition to Vadim's theatre and film work, he also wrote several books, including the memoirs "Memoires du Diable," "Le Gout du Bonheur: Souvenirs 1940-1958" and an autobiography, D'une étoile à l'autre (From One Star to the Next) as well as a tell-all about his most famous exes, Bardot, Deneuve & Fonda: My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World, published in 1986. "My attitude is that if this book makes me a little money it will be a tiny compensation for all the money I helped those actresses make," Vadim explained. He also wrote several plays and books of fiction, including "L'Ange Affame".

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

What or who was Roger Vadim? When his name comes to my mind is a man with with levi's and has no problem taking his pants off to the woman of his (or perhaps her) choice. Most of his films were crap, but he did make "And God Created Woman" with Bardot - and basically he froze time for generations of men with the thought of what a perfect f**k his life must have been like.

Life-time party monster (from Boris Vian world to Malibu Hollywood life) and with three marriages that most men would cut a finger at the very least .... to have at least once in their lives. A real ladies man in the sense that once you sleep with him he's a friend for life - and that is someone you can depend on.

This book is a page-turner, but keep in mind that he's a bridge between the world of post-war Paris and 70's Hollywood. Quite remarkable if you think of it!

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed many of Roger Vadim's films, but his memoir disappointed me. Lacking in any details, he throws memories around without a linear timeline, so you get a very spaced out autobiography. Unless my copy was abridged, there's only three pages devoted to Catherine Deneuve, and she's only mentioned in regards to her beauty, not the film he did with her "The Devil Leads The Dance", which also starred a very young Jacques Perrin and Bernadette Lafont.

Only half a page is devoted to his classic sci-fi romp Barbarella, and no mention at all about the making of the film or its iconic co-stars, John Philip Law and Anita Pallenberg. Talk about missed opportunities.

He spends a lot of time talking about Brigitte Bardot, but as in the case of Jane Fonda lists all of their insecurities. Do I really care what makes them uptight? Of course not. This could have been a great book if someone else wrote it, or at the very least put it together for him. This wasn't fun to read.