Les belles années de Miss Brodie

Maggie Smith was already a major star in her native England and 4 years before she had earned an Oscar nomination in the supporting category for her Desdemona in "Othello" with Laurence Olivier but her Jean Brodie arrived to revolutionize everything, specially her own career. She won an Oscar and her win was considered one of the great upsets in the Academy's history. Watching The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 48 years after its original release, told me that the Academy got it right then. Her performance is, quite simply, extraordinary. She's not playing a regular human being, no, she's playing a sort of benign monster, full of good intentions but, goodness, she's mad, mad as a hatter and from that point of view, she's truly dangerous. Maggie Smith goes for it, body and soul, Her confrontation of her superior, played magnificently by Celia Johnson, is of such power that I had to rewind immediately and see it again once, twice, three times. Superlative.

Beautifully filmed and acted by all the performers, this is a knock-out film. Maggie Smith is incredible right down to her Morningside accent. The other players hold their own against her powerhouse performance. The Edinburgh locations are great and the film has a remarkably nostalgic quality that reflects Brodie's romanticism. A beautiful Rod McKuen score as well! A must see film. An interesting comparison can be made with Dead Poet's Society, which has a male teacher in an all male school (compared to a female teacher in an all girl's school). In Brodie, unorthodox irresponsible teaching is condemned while in Dead Poet's Society it is valorized. In both the teaching methods bring about the death of a student and the school's reaction is similar. The film makers, however, come down on opposite sides in their attitudes toward the teachers

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.

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.

This is my favourite movie ever. It's made 19 years before I was born, but I don't care. I quite started crying after I'd seen this movie... Maggie Smith may be as old as my grandfather, whatever. She's the most wonderful actress ever... Oh, for heaven's sake, if ever someone deserved an Oscar...

What more can I say? Miss Jean Brodie is a dangerous, hypocrite and narcistic woman, and yet you like her. You have to like her. When you watch the movie, you know she's a facist, and you know that what she preaches is rubbish, but you just do not caze. Miss Brodie stands for "art, beauty and truth" and you just feel she's just deceived and too progressive for her time. But, as Sandy says it in the end of the movie, she is "a dangerous woman". Yet I love her.

And I love Maggie Smith. Dear Dame Maggie, if you ever read this, you are just... so... damn... bloody... great.

Oh for heaven's sake... go and watch this movie.