Please, Not Now! (French title: La bride sur le cou, meaning Free Rein) is a 1961 French-Italian romantic comedy movie directed by Roger Vadim (plus an uncredited Jean Aurel, who got fired a few weeks into shooting).
Sophie (Brigitte Bardot) discovers that her boyfriend Philippe (Jacques Riberolles) is cheating on her with a wealthy American, Barbara (Josephine James). When Sophie confronts him about it, he definitively leaves her for Barbara, but Sophie isn't willing to give up on him so easily and plots to murder Barbara. Sophie gets help from Alain (Michel Subor), a young doctor who's in love with her.
Tropes:
- Black Comedy Rape: Sophie and Barbara mistake Alain's and Philippe's intentions towards them and leave them. The men then decide to prove the sincerity of their love in ways that would be unmistakable as sexual assault. But since this movie is a romantic comedy, the situations are portrayed as funny and they end up living happily ever after. It goes like this:
- Alain takes the rifle Sophie had planned to commit the murder with and points it at her, coercing her to take off her clothes and get in bed with him. Only then does he put the gun away and they declare their love.
- Philippe pushes Barbara to the ground and rips off her clothes to prove that he loves her for herself and doesn't care anything about the luxuries that she has to offer him.
- Gold Digger: Sophie suspects that Philippe is only with Barbara for her fortune, and tells her so, which Barbara believes. But it turns out Philippe is sincere in his affection.
- Hair-Trigger Avalanche: In the end, Sophie throws her rifle down a snowy mountain, causing it to start firing on its own, which starts an avalanche that the two couples are on the receiving end of (they survive).
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Sophie decides she will get Philippe back by murdering her rival. She is inspired by the example of her grandmother Colomba, who shot the woman her fiance was cheating on her with, impressing him so much that he stayed with her.
- National Stereotypes: Sophie's hotheadedness and easy decision of committing a crime of passion are ascribed to her being Corsican. She also mentions that her grandfather was named Napoleon.Alain:: The Emperor?
Sophie: You're so dumb! All Corsicans are named Napoleon. - Operation: Jealousy: As an alternative to murder, Alain helps Sophie get Philippe back by pretending to be her boyfriend and thus inciting jealousy in Philippe.
- Pie in the Face: Sophie punishes Philippe for cheating on her by pieing him in the face. Much later she accidentally does the same to Alain with a pie she intended for both of them to eat.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: Sophie finds out that Philippe is cheating on her at the start of the film, and from there is driven to eliminate her rival and get him back.
