Monroe & French imagination

Published: September 5, 2006

PARIS, Sept. 4 — Marilyn Monroe never visited France, and even at the height of her fame in the United States she might not have wowed Parisians. After all, with her dyed blond hair and splashy red lips, she seemed so American. And in the 1950’s and early 60’s, France had its own pouting sex kitten in the sultry form of Brigitte Bardot. But now, while Ms. Bardot is a largely forgotten figure who, at 71, devotes herself to promoting animal rights, Monroe has finally caught the French imagination, not as a sex symbol, not even as a symbol, but as a work of art: beautiful, tragic, forever 36 years old.