A barefoot contessa, a screwed-up princess, an exquisite drunk, a bawdy aristocrat, a nightmare for puritanical America and the moguls of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Ava Gardner never stopped loving those she loved. She turned women green and made men sweat. And rejected with all her force the bulwark of normality.
Production
Rare footage of Gardner at her most unguarded and magnetic.
Editing
Smartly juxtaposes studio polish with her messy truth.
Director
Jean-Frédéric Thibault
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gardner herself recorded extensive audio memoirs in the 1980s, which the directors unearthed for this doc — her whiskey-and-cigarettes voice narrates her own myth.
The title references her iconic role in 'The Barefoot Contessa' but also her lifelong refusal to fit Hollywood's mold — she was box office gold who openly despised the machine.
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