People

By Guy D. Garcia

She is the Statue of Liberty's spirited older sister, and the time has come for her too to get a new look. Lissome, dauntless Marianne has aroused French patriotic passions since she became the symbol of the Republic in the 1850s. For the past 20 years, '60s Siren Brigitte Bardot has served as the real-life , inspiration for the scantily clad Marianne statues that adorn many a town hall. But in a new poll, the French bade bye-bye to "B.B." and picked an updated model: Actress Catherine Deneuve, 41. "A return to classicism," proclaimed a Le Monde commentator. Deneuve was coolly but clearly pleased. "I never thought, not even for a day, that I would one day embody the Republic," she said. This month she will head a jury to choose a sculptor to create the new version of the national figurehead. Lucky sculptor. Lucky France.