The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Maggie Smith revels being in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," a 1969 film based on the play by Ronald Neame. Smith, in her great film role, plays the narcissistic, romantic, unconventional Jean Brodie, a teacher in a conservative school in 1932.

Brodie refers to her 12-year-old students as "her girls," rhapsodizes about her lover who fell in World War I, shows slides of her trip to Italy, extols the virtues of "Il Duce" (Mussolini) and Fascism, and has picnics with the students, serving food such as pate de foie gras. The headmistress (Celia Johnson) may not like her, but two male teachers (Robert Stephens and Gordon Jackson) are crazy about her: one the handsome, married art teacher, whom she won't let herself love, and the other, a weak, traditional man who wants marriage but gets the free-wheeling Ms. Brodie instead.

One can't help liking or even loving Jean Brodie, mostly because of the vivid characterization of Maggie Smith - her Brodie is funny, fun, eccentric, devoted, and loves bucking the system. Underneath all that "truth" and "romance," however, is a woman with a very over-idealized view of the world, a woman who doesn't really see "her girls" as anything but tools in her own game and to satisfy her own needs. One student (Pamela Franklin), the strongest of the lot, ultimately sees through her.

Franklin is marvelous, and holds her own against Smith's brilliant, biting, flamboyant performance. Smith's husband, Robert Stephens, is very good as the art teacher who loves her in spite of himself; Celia Johnson is formidable as the headmistress; and Gordon Jackson, as the overwhelmed, good Mr. Lowther, is wonderful. Each makes a strong impression.

Ultimately, though, the role of Jean Brodie is a beautifully constructed one, and as played by Maggie Smith, is the center of the film. I saw Smith in person in "Lettice and Lovage," and it remains one of my all-time great nights of theater. I laughed until my face hurt, and then at the end, the character has a serious monologue - and you could hear a pin drop. What a privilege to see this actress anywhere and any time, in any medium.

I don't know about you, but every time I see Maggie Smith on the screen it's always a good sign to stick around for the whole movie. It holds true with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. A rather slow-moving, at first, and quiet movie, it has a certain seductiveness to it that's just below the surface. As you watch the movie you can almost feel and see the emotions building up. Always at the edge and never missing a beat, Smith executes her role with absolute perfection and in doing so driving the audience insane. Pamela Franklin also comes through as a girl changes Miss Brodie's outlook on her and changes our outlook on Miss Brodie. Torn between rooting for her and hating her, and mostly you'll be doing the latter, Miss Brodie is a character with far less facets to her than one might expect. Only once again proving that trust can be misplaced and appearances can be deceiving.

This movie is often billed as a 'one-woman show', a study of an extraordinary character, Miss Jean Brodie, played by an excellent actress. However, the movie is much more than that. It is a study of charisma and influence, of teachers and students, and presents a complex and fascinating coming-of-age story. This study takes place through the movie's double-focus on both Jean Brodie and her most precocious student, Sandy. Sandy is the strongest and most independent of Miss Brodie's students, and eventually she rebels and rejects her teaching completely. However, she is also truest to her teacher's expressed goals. Miss Brodie supposedly wants to teach 'her girls' to be like herself: powerful, independent individuals, free from the shackles of authority and group-think, beyond conventional sexual morality. In fact, she preys on the weakness and insecurity of her students, punishes independence and rewards slavish loyalty to her and to her personal plans and ideals. (The film's more subtle concern with fascism and authoritarianism echoes this theme: fascism elevates great individuals and praises their strength, just as it demands total obedience and slavishness from the rest.) Sandy, by recognizing and rejecting Miss Brodies's actions and plans, becomes her truest student: not only sexually adventurous, but bold, independent, and confrontational. The final scenes illustrate this beautifully. Miss Brodie has truly put "an old head" on Sandy's "young shoulders", and she truly is "hers for life"--though not in the way originally intended. In this way the movie presents a profound, sophisticated and realistic account of the way powerful individuals influence one another.

I saw this film thirty years ago and Maggie Smith's performance still rates as one of the finest on screen. The storyline is already well known. I just want to crow about her presence in the movie. This woman even managed to blush when she and Mr Lloyd were caught in a clinch by Mary MacGregor! All these years later I still recall the line she delivered so witheringly when she heard that the music teacher she had once been linked with was finally going the marry the science teacher "Do you not think that with one snap of my fingers I couldn't send Miss (beat) Lockhart back to her gaseous domain!" Rent the video and whoop with delight at the sheer brilliance of this woman.

Robert Stephens was the least convincing of the lead performers, beside his then wife he was positively wooden. I saw them together on the London Stage in Hedda Gabler and they electrified the place! This film though was all about her. Her scenes with the Head Teacher were astonishing " I didn't want to be late - or early!"

A joy!

See it for Maggie Smith who was much deserving of her Best Actress Oscar in 1969. I'd rank this performance among the best ever preserved on film. Her character is unlike any you've ever seen and ranks up there with Sandy Dennis in "Up the Down Staircase" and Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love" as one of the most memorable teachers on screen.

Ronald Neame does a nice job of moving the film along so the adapted play doesn't seem stagy. The focus is the wonderful adapted screenplay and the great cast.

The triumph of "Jean Brodie" is the final confrontation scene with Smith and young actress Pamela Franklin.

Don't miss it.