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The Barefoot Contessa Movie Review

The Barefoot Contessa is a 1954 drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. It’s a problematic, but intriguing film.

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“In Hollywood, it is not easy to become a star.

Ah, where is it easy?“

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It is about the life and loves of fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas. Most of this movie plays like a theatrical drama meaning that it almost entirely consists of dialogue and also a lot of narration. I found the narration excessive, but mostly quite revelatory. But the dialogue is where its true strengths lie.

Some conversations here are truly thought-provoking, very fascinating and obviously quite sophisticated, in particular when dealing with fame, power and of course love. Whenever the movie focused on the conversations between the two protagonists, it reached the status of impressive, classic American dramas.

But unfortunately, a lot of the movie also focuses on other characters, most of whom are very uninteresting, boring and simply the film lost its power whenever it strayed away from the main duo. Some of the conversations involving other characters are quite dated and honestly very dull.

The whole movie is exceptionally made across the board while being superbly directed by always terrific Joseph L. Mankiewicz and also very well written. The script is mostly good, but again some of the other players, and the triangles and eventual conclusion were too standard and not particularly interesting.

And the pacing is so leisurely to a fault. That’s the movie’s biggest problem that unfortunately prevented it from reaching greater heights, but I expect that it is going to be much more impressive upon second viewing. It’s incredibly slow, but frequently intriguing nonetheless.

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The Barefoot Contessa also benefits from a truly stellar performance from Ava Gardner. She’s charismatic, fascinating and her character is the standout of the entire film. She’s so magnetic and simply interesting that she pulls away the focus from most other characters.

Well, Humphrey Bogart notwithstanding as he’s also terrific. This was one of his later roles, but he still had it in him and he excelled at playing his great character. And I simply loved the relationship that developed between the two as it wasn’t really romantic, but different and more like a true, caring friendship. Their relationship is unique as is the film’s whole tone.

The Barefoot Contessa is leisurely paced to a fault and the supporting characters are simply never as interesting, but the main duo is terrific, and played superbly by both Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart. The conversations between the two are the film’s most impressive highlight while the movie’s overall tone and approach are different and unique.

My Rating – 4