I can't help but think of this movie as a send up of the famous Abbott and Costello routine: Who's on First. The odd naming of the female character, 'Why,' who scores with the architect before her mentor is a perfect start. Why's on first, and the What makes it all the way home. The picture is ambiguous to a fault. Event the title is ambiguous. Did the film maker mean Bad Girls, baby deer, bitches, or just us girls. If it were not for the beauty of the female leads, the gorgeous setting of St. Tropez, the movie would be a total bore, about characters who can't show you who they are because they don't know themselves. The most I could make of it is that it's about a control freak who runs a menagerie of people for her amusement to fill an unfulfilled life until one day one of the wild animals gets lose to put an end to the zoo. The secondary characters, supposedly two amusing gay men, were so annoying that it stretches the imagination to see how the zoo keeper would have them around. Let's write it off as a travelogue of a hot spot on the Riviera.

If you are looking for action, erotic or otherwise, this is not a film you will enjoy.It is a simple pleasure of color and emotion.The plot is simple: A rich woman (Stéphane Audran - Babette's Feast, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) takes a liking to a poor young girl (Jacqueline Sassard). A man (Jean-Louis Trintignant - Z, Red) enters the picture, and friction results. That's it.But, don't let the simplicity fool you. There is an elegant dance among the characters as emotional games are played. It is the dance amid the beauty of St. Tropez that is the pleasure.

Although I've usually enjoyed Chabrol's film and his (then-wife's) Stephane Audran's ice-cool looks, this is down the ho-hum trail from beginning to end (picking up a bit in the middle). Trintignant is his usual passive self and Jacquelline Sassard is strange and disturbing-looking with no apparent acting talent.A 3 out of 10. Best performance = S. Audran. If this is supposed to be erotic, mysterious, and dark - it missed the mark by a mile. Beautiful French locales with extra supporting characters who serve no real purpose. Don't waste your time unless you're really a Chabrol junkie. Have wanted to see this for years...what a pity.

This is a beautiful and emotionally tense movie, full of unsaid things, wealth and desire. The photography is beautiful, the performances excellent.However, I must warn you that if are hoping for a movie that depicts bisexual and polyamorous people as realistic, sane or mature, you will be disappointed. This movie seems to be the prototype for other "threatening bisexual woman" movies, such as "Basic Instinct", but see it anyway for the drama and the beauty.