Soon, Gardner is a star, and Bogart becomes her director, writer, manager, and confidant. But there is no romantic relationship, partly because Bogart is middle-aged and ugly, but mostly because Bogart is committed to Elizabeth Sellars. Trouble in paradise arises when Stevens grows jealous of an interest in Gardner by wealthy Latin American playboy Marius Goring. Gardner leaves them both for Rossano Brazzi, another wealthy foreigner but one with good manners. Their long-term relationship is in doubt, however, since the film opens with Gardner's funeral service.
How others will see it. This film is primarily of interest to classic movie lovers for its two leads, Bogart and Gardner. Veteran supporting actor Edmund O'Brien won his only Academy Award for his yes-man role.
Most viewers will be vaguely disappointed. The Barefoot Contessa begins to drag about halfway through, somewhere around the time Gardner testifies in her father's murder trial. It's difficult to work up interest for two characters (the mother and father) we have hardly met, and the brief subplot seems unnecessary.
How I felt about it. We know that this movie has problems as early as its opening scenes. The first scene is a languid funeral for the title character, whom we don't know yet. The second scene shows a male audience in a nightclub ecstatic over a performance that we don't get to see. This is followed by a remarkable display of Ugly American behavior by Warren Stevens. Next, it is Gardner's turn to act like a self-involved prima donna.
This is the real lesson of The Barefoot Contessa. Money is the root of all rudeness. Even O'Brien, the film's subservient lapdog, gets to be rude, but only when his employment by a rival zillionaire is ensured. The only significant characters who is never rude (as opposed to helpfully blunt) is Humphrey Bogart, who has already been humbled by a string of pre-Gardner flops.
As lessons go, this one is boring, a conclusion that can be extended to the film as a whole. Dullest of all is Gardner's character trait of doing the opposite of what she is ordered to do. Her mother forbids her to go to America, so she does. Stevens forbids her to leave with Goring, so she does. You'd think by then Stevens would have learned to pay someone to order Gardner to do the opposite of what Stevens wants. Then he might finally have his way with her.