Prudence... et la pilule

The main idea behind "Prudence and the Pill" is one that doesn't make sense to me. While birth control pills might have looked VERY different in the UK in the 1960s, all the ones I've seen look absolutely nothing like aspirins or vitamins--which are much, much larger. So how could people be replacing another person's birth control pills with aspirins without anyone realizing it?

This 1960s sex comedy stars Deborah Kerr and David Niven...both of which made quite a few sophisticated sex comedies in the 1950s and 60s (such as the horrible CASINO ROYALE, BEDTIME STORY and THE GRASS IS GREENER). In this film, Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle have an open marriage and both have their lovers. In addition, Mrs. Hardcastle's niece (Judy Geeson) is sleeping with her boyfriend. However, someone is messing with these ladies' birth control pills and soon complications ensue.

Like most of the sex comedies of the era, this film talks a lot about sex (or, more rightly, INSINUATING a lot about sex) without really showing or saying much at all. Racy stuff for the time...very tame stuff when seen today. So, while it portrays folks who have affairs and premarital sex, it's done with 60s sensibilities--being both extremely broad-minded AND old fashioned at the same time.

So is this any good and is it worth seeing? Well, at least for me, no especially. I might have enjoyed it had it just been more interesting, made more sense or made me laugh. Plus, and I guess this makes me sound very prudish, but I thought the Hardcastles were a pathetic couple...and I really didn't care one bit about what happened with them. What was a kooky sex romp back in the day now just seems dated and sub-par despite the big-name stars in it.

I remember seeing this movie as a teen in the 80s, but had forgotten all of the particulars except for the fact that Deborah Kerr looked absolutely stunning and wore some great clothes. I had an opportunity to see it again recently and enjoyed the ride. This wasn't a Deborah Kerr film per se, but rather, an ensemble. David Niven was absolutely hysterical in the film. Some of the funniest scenes were of him up to shenanigans. The scene in the drug store getting aspirin was absolutely classic. Deborah Kerr, the reason I wanted to watch this movie, wasn't her usual genteel self, but I liked seeing her b!tchy side and the verbal sparring that went on between her and David Niven. All of the other characters were fun as well. This is a fun 60s romp with very little depth, but was entertaining enough to hold my interest until the end.

This movie is a lot of fun and is about the best movie about sex that didnt show any sex. All the acting is superb and you will definitely laugh.This movie slightly predated the "real" sexual revolution and those of you that like your sex comedies a little more "bare" may be a bit disappointed for its lack of nudity, but not for its wit and humor!

In movie after movie men & women regularly mate with each other without anyone ever fussing over contraception. This time however there's so much discussion of it you'd assume that the script by Hugh Mills was based on a play rather than on a novel (that he'd originally published in 1965). It certainly lends a new meaning to the description "oral sex" since all they ever appear to do is just talk about it; until the women suddenly all give birth en masse like the women of the village of Midwich.

The reality for women of taking contraceptive pills on a daily basis was seemingly a complete mystery to Mills, since he depicts them as indistinguishable from aspirins and dispensed by chemists in glass jars rather than individually in pop-out blister packs.

Despite it's rather desperate aim to be contemporary and "with it", the backdrop of extravagent wealth and its upper class characters simply heighten the generally pre-war feel of the thing.

This silly romp is quite entertaining and even adorable. Its a lot of fun.

I am not the type of person who takes marriage and infidelity lightly. My attitude us be single or be married. Well this IS a farce and it does show how the complications that arise from sneaking around make it hardly worth the trouble.