The Romantic Age

I recently had the pleasure of viewing The Romantic Age again after about 25 years from an underground video. It used to occasionally play on the local LA late show back then, along with other such nostalgic films as Miranda, Cynara, No Minor Vices, The Lady Says No, etc. I found that I could remember much of the dialog which brought back a flood of youthful memories. A classic scene is when Hugh Williams' daughter, Petula Clark, starts dancing and drinking wildly in a British nightclub as her shocked father enters to pull her out of there. Over the sound of the jazz, a disreputable-looking fat lady starts laughing at this, and you can still hear her piercing laugh as Williams yanks Petula out into the streets. I can still hear that laugh 25 years after seeing the movie! The irony of this is that Williams has been having an affair with one of his students, namely Arlette Tessereau, a French flirt played by a young Mai Zetterling. This film may be fluff, but it ranks high with me probably due to its nostalgia power. It should be released on video as well as Miranda and other obscure British comedies which are my favorites. But where are these films now? Who owns them? And will they ever be shown or released again?

In common with some French directors (cf. Duvivier's "Anna Karenina") Gréville made several films in England after the war. This film is a light-footed, fluffy type of comedy set in a girls' school in England with a plot based on the arrival of the first male teacher in this school and the flirtatious attempts mainly of Arlette, a French girl, played by Zetterling. She was a minor Swedish actress who worked mainly in the UK and Hollywood and ended up as a director, also of minor films. She is terribly miscast in this role, being way too old. She plays so over the top that you laugh every time she is on screen, which is clearly not what the director intended. The so-called French accent which she puts on when speaking English is very badly executed — anybody who has heard Greta Garbo or Ingrid Bergman would recognize Zetterling's voice in this film as being tinged definitely not with a French but a Swedish accent. Sometimes you wonder whether Zetterling found inspiration in Marlene Dietrich's night-club singer in "Der blaue Engel", which is patently ludicrous considering that her role is supposed to be that of a schoolgirl in England. The other members of the cast are quite good apart from the American girl in the school (too old and using inexplicable nautical jargon all the time). Hugh Williams as the teacher is a reliable performer and his daughter (also a pupil at the school), played by Petula Clark, comes across very convincingly as a teenage girl. Those interested in early post-war British cinema might enjoy spending one and a half hour with this lightweight but well-crafted film. At least — unintentionally on the part of the makers of the film — they would be assured of some laughs thanks to Zetterling's exaggerated performance

The first thing to be said is that nearly all the schoolgirls are played by actresses who are well over 18 years old.Mai Zetterling was 24 years old.It is difficult to know if this was looked on as a romantic comedy.Noways it wouldn't get made because the Hugh Williams character would loose his career and end up in prison for a couple of years.

"The Romantic Age" (also known as "Naughty Arlette") is a British film set in a girls finishing school. A new teacher has arrived and it's a 'he'....not just another female instructor. Immediately, a French girl in the school, Arlette (Mai Zetterling) sees him as a contest....how long will it be until she makes him fall for her? At first, the teacher sees through her and realizes she's a bad influence. However, soon he proves that he's a total idiot and falls for her.

While this Lolita-like film is interesting, it suffers from one big problem....Arlette's actions are hardly subtle and this makes the entire thing seem more trivial and unbelievable. You cannot believe a sane man falling for her like this! I don't so much blame Zetterling...more the writing. It just goes too fast and it's hard to believe a man who is as strong and insightful as he is initially later becomes a pawn so quickly. Had it been more subtle and deliberate, it would have been a much better movie. As it is, it's worth seeing...but also easily skippable.

By the way, if you do watch it I'd love to know what you think of the final scene with the butler and the hairbrush!!

A fascinating and very vintage story about a teacher seduced by a devious student as an act of revenge. It's hard to know if this film is supposed to be a comedy (I found myself mainly laughing in agony over Mai Zetterling's French accent) or a more serious drama. The scene near the end in the cab is incredibly poignant, when Petula Clark attempts to save her father's feelings by lying to him.

Hugh Williams was a romantic hero in his earlier career, but by 1949 he is pretty far from being love's young dream. Combined with Mai Zetterling's atrocious accent and the fact we know she is taking him for a ride, there's no real romance to be found here.

Some interesting parallels may be found with Girls' Dormitory (1936) where schoolmaster Herbert Marshall is seduced by French schoolgirl Simone Simon. Marshall is at least single in that one, and Simon's accent is happily authentic. Both films feature a scene in a hut in the middle of a storm, where Hugh/Herbert "rescues" Mai/Marie. There is surely a deliberate parallel or influence there.

As others have mentioned, the spanking scene at the end is frankly outrageous (though amusing for being so) and it's amazing it got past the censors. The silhouetting reminded me of the scene in Seinfeld episode "The Contest" where George visits his mother in hospital. It's very reminiscent of a Carry On film as well.

Unlike many reviewers have claimed: it isn't the case that this student-teacher relationship would be "illegal" in the UK these days. Mai's character is 18 and therefore legally able to consent - the "position of trust" legislation enacted in 2001 does not apply to legal adults. Hugh would doubtless be sacked, but he wouldn't face criminal charges. Unethical, and unwise, but not illegal.