Georgy Girl

Good performances from Redgrave, Mason, Rampling and Bates. A modest film that found international approval. In 1966, while it may have seemed shocking to hear UK girl Charlotte Rampling tell Alan Bates that she had "destroyed" two of his already, it's worth remembering that an American girl couldn't have a legal abortion unless there were extenuating circumstances. Roe v. Wade was still several years away. The wholesome longings of Goergie are sharply contrasted with her roommate, the ice cold Meredith. The lead was originally offered to Vanessa Redgrave and when she backed out her younger sister Lynne was cast. She was overwhelmingly brave playing Georgie as a girl you liked enough that when she does something embarrassing you can't help but flinch. It happens a lot. As she falls and fails she finds a life of her own. And that is oddly inspirational.

Marvelous film, an extension of the British kitchen-sink dramas from earlier in the decade (but with a friskier spirit), "Georgy Girl" introduced audiences to Vanessa Redgrave's kid sister, Lynn (in an Oscar-nominated performance). She's plain and frumpy Georgina, a too-tall, kissless clown and nursery school teacher who plays second-fiddle to her more beautiful flat-mate--and who also harbors a crush on her pal's sexy boyfriend in the bargain. While dodging the advances of her father's wealthy employer, Georgina acts as nursemaid to her pregnant roommate, never dreaming of the circumstances to follow. From Margaret Forster's novel, which she co-adapted with Peter Nichols, the film is visually alive, stylish and skittering about with "free and easy" abandon, yet with moral choices and a sobering heart at its center. Redgrave is nothing short of fabulous; her "Georgy" is often slumped over sulking, an easy mark with little sense of humor (she's either completely inflexible or terribly over-eager). The clever, enticing writing is spread about for everyone to share in--so much so that the supporting characters nearly upstage our heroine (whose moods tend to be exasperating near the end): Charlotte Rampling is excellent as pregnant Meredith (who gets the film's most viciously funny lines); Alan Bates is terrific as her devilish lover; while Oscar-nominated James Mason is too comfortably cast as the older man with an eye for Georgy (he isn't able to offer anything fresh here). Delightful comedy-drama from director Silvio Narizzano, one of the few from this era not to use 'mod' touches to set the time and place. *** from ****

... it's because it is. But you have to look at the year it was made - 1966. The top film at the box office that year was "The Bible", but the #3 movie was "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". So society and its values were definitely in transition, even in confusion.

The plot is centered on Georgy (Lynn Redgrave), a twenty-something working class British girl who is portrayed as overweight and plain when I think she is adorable. She's on a voyage of self-discovery, but ultimately finds that she's most fulfilled in service to others, in particular her roommate's infant child who is abandoned at birth, and whose care she enthusiastically takes up. This might have been a sweeter tale than it is if not for HOW Georgy manages to keep the child and support her, made especially puzzling by the closing rendition of the title song that infers that this is supposed to be a happy ending! To find out what she did you'll have to watch this yourself. This film was considered controversial for its time, dealing with promiscuity, abortion, hedonism, child abandonment, and classism.

This movie might have even had trouble being made in the US at the time, and it for sure had difficulty with some local TV station managers that considered it unsuitable even five years later. I know that in my hometown, Dallas, no TV station manager would air it as late as the early 70s. If you think that's odd, do realize that the local Dallas ABC affiliate wouldn't air NYPD Blue during its first season in the early 90s because station management considered it obscene!

If you do decide to watch it, remember it's definitely not a comedy though it has comic moments.

I watched this movie mostly for Lynn Redgrave, expecting nothing more than an old, light-hearted British comedy. It was better than I expected; "Georgy Girl" is a lovely, bittersweet dramedy clearly inspired by American screwball comedies of the 30's and the French New Wave that was burning in the 60's (to see how much the Nouvelle Vague aesthetics influenced British cinema, check the also remarkable "Two for the Road", with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn).

Redgrave, fantastic as usual, plays Georgy, a scatter-brained working-class virgin with a golden heart. She shares a flat with a selfish, cold bitch (Charlotte Rampling), who gets pregnant of Jos (Alan Bates), and the three of them eventually move together; but things get complicated as Georgy is courted by Jos and James (James Mason), a much older man, at the same time.

Bates (is it just me, or does he look like Jean-Paul Belmondo - one of the greatest Nouvelle Vague icons because of Godard's "Breathless" - in this?), Rampling and Mason are all great in their respective parts, but this is Redgrave's show all the way. Her anti-heroine is sweet and memorable, somewhat similar to Toni Collette's Muriel Heslop (from "Muriel's Wedding"), some sort of a British, less patient and clumsier Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou). Georgy singing "Whole Lotta Woman" is a classic scene. Lynn's performance alone would make this movie worth seeing, but she's not the only good thing about it, just the core. 10/10.

I enjoyed "Georgy Girl" at the time of its original release, but hadn't thought about it until I recently viewed the DVD version. This revisit was well worth it: "Georgy Girl" is a delightful film.

Charlotte Rampling's Meredith is my favorite of the four main characters. Rampling has always been physically stunning, but it's her moody intellect within that keeps Meredith modern rather than a 60s icon who looks sensational in Mary Quant mini-dresses, a darker version of Julie Christie in "Darling" (a character who didn't have too much of a light side herself). Meredith is cool, in control, self-serving, brutal, and surprisingly honest about who she is. "You take me as me," she tells Jos (Alan Bates) as she cajoles him into marrying her, not so much because she's pregnant but because she's bored. It seems in Meredith's view, you can easily get rid of a pregnancy, but boredom requires more skill and is potentially a worse situation in which to find yourself. Other actresses could have successfully made Meredith a bitch, but Rampling makes her fascinating and thus strangely likable. When she exits the film, things go a bit limp, but then there's little left than to move the story to its inevitable conclusion.

Alan Bates plays Jos with such high physical and verbal energy he seems to be all the Marx Brothers rolled into one. His facial expression at the culmination of his strip during the 'I Love You' sequence suggested to me a nod to the great Harpo.

Lynn Redgrave made the role of Georgy so much her own it's difficult to believe the story that Vanessa Redgrave had been originally intended for it -- and even more difficult to imagine Vanessa playing scenes with Rampling.

The title song became a big hit at the time. In the film, the lyrics vary somewhat from the pop version, serving to set up the plot during the opening credits and then comment on its resolution at the end. In between, the song politely vanishes, leaving the classically influenced score by Alexander Faris to take over with its harpsichord riffs and its subtle playfulness. I especially liked the violin solo that accompanies the transition from orgasm to morning sickness.

The dialogue is often fast, overlapping, thrown away, or contains obscure (to me) cultural references, so it's worth enabling the English subtitles for DVD viewing. You wouldn't want to miss "Moss Bros", or Alan Bates' rapid-fire disrobing monologue, or Meredith's contempt for the concert at which she has just played violin: "Beethoven night. They're like animals."