French right pushes for national tribute to film star Brigitte Bardot

French right-wing figure Éric Ciotti has called for a national tribute to honour film legend Brigitte Bardot, prompting objections from political opponents on the left.

“France has a duty to honour its Marianne,” said Ciotti, referring to the emblem of French liberty whose face Bardot was chosen to represent in the 1960s.

Bardot died on Sunday aged 91. A petition launched by Ciotti since has attracted more than 23,000 signatures, and has the backing of some allies on the far right.

But Socialist leader Olivier Faure has pointed out that national homages are for “exceptional services to the nation”. Bardot was an iconic actress but she also “turned her back on republican values”, Faure argued.

Bardot has been hailed by President Emmanuel Macron as a “legend of the century” who embodied a life of freedom, and Ciotti, who leads the right-wing UDR party, has appealed to him to organise a national send-off.

Ciotti said France should recognise a woman who brought her country an extraordinary level of international recognition and actively helped in the fight for women’s liberty and abortion rights.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has announced that his city will name an “iconic site” in Bardot’s honour.

But Bardot is destined to remain controversial in death as she was during her life. Faure pointed out that she had been convicted five times for inciting racial hatred.

Bardot starred in some 50 films, after bursting on to the scene in And God Created Woman in 1956.

She then left the world of cinema in 1973 for a life devoted to animal welfare, and lived for decades in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, at her home called La Madrague.

But she became as well known for her far-right sympathies as she was for her love of animals. Some of her remarks targeted Muslims, and others insulted the people of the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion.

“To be moved by the plight of dolphins and yet be indifferent to the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean – what degree of cynicism is that?” asked Green MP Sandrine Rousseau on social media.

There are differing types of national tribute in France.

Robert Badinter, who abolished the death penalty in France, was honoured with a national homage in the form of a solemn ceremony in 2024, as was singer Charles Aznavour in 2018.

A more likely option for Bardot would be along the lines of the public farewell given to rock star Johnny Hallyday, when large crowds lined the streets of Paris in 2017.

Not everyone on the left is opposed to the idea of a national homage to Bardot.

“Why not? We’ve done it for other figures, particularly Johnny Hallyday,” Socialist MP Philippe Brun told French radio. “If the president of the republic decides on it, I don’t see why we should oppose it.”

Bardot herself had shunned the limelight for decades and close friend Wendy Bouchard said she was not remotely interested in medals and ceremonies.

“It probably comes from a good place, but I’m not sure that she, who lived a life of simplicity and deprivation, would have wanted this national homage,” she told French TV.

Journalist Steven Bellery, who interviewed Bardot earlier this year, agreed she wanted something far more simple and intimate.

Bardot had asked to be buried at her Riviera home at La Madrague, rather than in a public cemetery, where she feared “a crowd of idiots might damage the graves of my parents and grandparents”.

However, the town hall in Saint-Tropez has said she will have a private burial in the public cemetery that overlooks the Mediterranean as well as her home.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which is dedicated to animal welfare, says her funeral will take place on 7 January at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church and will be broadcast on screens across the town.