A true ladies' man.

When it comes to women and cinema, there is Vadim’s way and Philippe de Broca’s touch : the latter is softer.

1961, « Cartouche » : Philippe de Broca directs Claudia Cardinale.
1963, « L’homme de Rio » : he directs Françoise Dorléac.
1965, « Les tribulations d’un Chinois en Chine » : he directs Ursula Andress.
1966, « Le roi de coeur » : he directs Geneviève Bujold.
1969, « Les caprices de Marie » : he directs Marthe Keller ; discovered in French TV hit series « La demoiselle d’Avignon » with Louis Velle, she was on her way to Pollack’s « Bobby Deerfield » and Al Pacino, then Wilder’s « Fedora » and William Holden.
1973, « L’incorrigible » : he directs Jacqueline Bisset.
1982, « L’africain » : nearly twenty years after her sister Françoise, he directs Catherine Deneuve.
1986, « La gitane » : he jumps to a newer generation and directs Valérie Kaprisky ; despite her Polish surname, she is a likely Gipsy and near the end of her barely started career.

In all these years, de Broca married none of his female stars.

Jean-Paul Belmondo was the main beneficiary of his liberality.

A French 18th century Robin Hood in « Cartouche », he has no Marianne, but a Venus : she is called Claudia Cardinale and, unfortunately, killed before the end titles roll out.

To ease his sorrow, de Broca sends Jean-Paul packing to Rio after Françoise Dorléac, then to Hong-Kong after Ursula Andress.

In « Le magnifique », he need not leave Paris : Jacqueline Bisset moves into the next floor apartment and, guess what ?, Bob Saint-Clare, whose forty third spy novel he is struggling to complete, is her personal hero.

In « L’incorrigible », he walks out of jail into Geneviève Bujold.

Was Philippe Jean-Paul’s retriever or was Jean-Paul Philippe’s provider of leading actresses ?

Like Vadim, de Broca lost some of his magic with age.

In « Les Chouans » (1988), he has to settle for Sophie Marceau. In 2000, desperately seeking a screen companion for his old Jean-Paul friend, he can lure nobody to « Amazone », but Arielle Dombasle.

Actress, singer and significant other -if his ego can tolerate one, but this is gossip territory- of French philosopher, essayist, film maker and media darling Bernard-Henri Lévy, Arielle Dombasle is to some that rarity : a delightful, witty, funny blonde ; to most, she is only a vain, squealing pain in the neck, on and off screen.

In between « Les Chouans » and « Amazone », de Broca nevertheless hit gold. Though probably not a film for the ages, his « One thousand and one nights » (1990) has one serious claim to posterity : Sheherazade is an unknown twenty-one year old, mostly nude, Welsh beauty called Catherine Zeta-Jones.

She would need eight years to seduce a forgettable Zorro and a few more to become the wife of growing proportions, if not talent, of the old son of a Hollywood legend.

February 2, 2000, Roger Vadim dies, he is still married to Marie-Christine Barrault ; in his final years, he has directed a couple of French TV movies about his one undisputed area of expertise : recombined families.

November 26, 2004, Philippe de Broca passes away.

The female casts of their respective funerals would be worth comparing.