Eccentric well-meaning Scottish schoolteacher Jean Brodie's extravagantly romantic ideas about life--and love--overly impress her young pupils and bring her into direct conflict with her sch... Read allEccentric well-meaning Scottish schoolteacher Jean Brodie's extravagantly romantic ideas about life--and love--overly impress her young pupils and bring her into direct conflict with her school's conservative headmistress Miss MacKay.Eccentric well-meaning Scottish schoolteacher Jean Brodie's extravagantly romantic ideas about life--and love--overly impress her young pupils and bring her into direct conflict with her school's conservative headmistress Miss MacKay.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 6 wins & 10 nominations total
- Miss Kerr
- (as Helena Cloag)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe school desks had to be raised so that some of the girls wouldn't look as grown-up as they really were. In fact, one of the girls was a 21-year-old mother.
- GoofsMiss Brodie presents a slide show to the class. She tells a tale of how Dante Alighieri fell in love with Beatrice Portinari when they met at the old bridge (Ponte Vecchio) in Florence. Miss Brodie changes some of the facts of the Dante and Beatrice story, but in doing so she is relating the story (consciously or unconsciously) of her own failed romance with an older man.
- Quotes
Jean Brodie: Little girls! I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life. You girls are my vocation. If I were to receive a proposal of marriage tomorrow from the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, I would decline it. I am dedicated to you in my prime. And my summer in Italy has convinced me that I am truly in my prime.
- Crazy creditsIn the opening credits, the principal actors are billed with their names under footage of themselves as the school day begins.
- ConnectionsFeatured in A Bit of Scarlet (1997)
Rather than another summary and interpretation I want to riff on a few seemingly random points ...
1) The costumes. Fabulous, fabulous period costumes. The grey of the "gehrls" ... all those pleated skirts and dropped waists! Sandy's little gingham number! The bloomers ... oh, how sweet those bloomers were (and I mean nothing perverse by that, I just thought they were cute, and I'll own up to always wondering what was under those '30s skirts). The school uniforms, the effect of the repetition on that gray, gray, gray, and those tidy peter-pan collared shirts: you could easily see why Miss Brodie fancied herself a bit of a Duce herself, she seemed to be surrounded by a uniformed army. And then ... against the greys of the girls, the greys, whites and blacks of the staff -- wonderful houndstooths and glen plaids, especially on the headmistress -- Miss Brodie, impossibly slim and hipless, in radiant plums, flame colors, paisleys and asymmetrical jackets. If only I could have a tailor like that. It worked, it absolutely works still: it doesn't look a bit garish, as so many Technicolor extravaganzas can.
2) Miss Brodie's blindness to who Sandy really is - her insensitivity to her; going on about how "ordinary morals will not apply" to the allegedly-beautiful girl (well, she's blonde anyway) while failing to look beneath the glasses of the real stunner, Sandy. Who with the slightest bit of knowledge about pre-teen girls would do that - harp on a friend's beauty and negligently add, "Oh, but you have insight, dear"? The whole set-up: Sandy's elevated to a peer-like relationship, Sandy's confided in, yet Sandy is only a mirror for Jean, not valued, not truly noticed. I believe that's the dynamic - almost like a neglected lover's - that triggers Sandy's betrayal.
3) Sandy, and her amazing transformation. My jaw actually dropped when we saw her with the painter: did they film over a period of years, I wondered? How could that little girl be THIS young woman? Going back and watching - the schoolgirl uniform, the tousled short hair, the whole expression, look in the eyes, everything. The over-sized glasses. The most convincing precocious-12-year-old performance. And then - pow, an adult! all without CGI. That was impressive.
4) The giggling and sexually curious girls. Hey, I do remember being 12, and yeah, it was like that!
5) That incredible dance scene, the 2 girls tangoing while speculating on "doing it." Fantastic blocking. And funny, and charming as hell. I especially like Sandy's aggressive cranking of the Victrola.
I personally detested the painter - the whole notion of the father of 6 tomcatting about, well, yuck - and his manhandling of the ladies is simply vile. But those were the times, I suppose. The headmistress was sublime. The overall look is artful but not overdone and all perfectly unified and beautiful. Enjoy - I certainly have!
- crescentaluna
- Nov 27, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- La primavera de una solterona
- Filming locations
- The Edinburgh Academy, Henderson Row, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK(Miss Jean Brodie's school)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $82
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1