Georgy Girl

It was wonderfully interesting reading the reviews; even the ones I disagree with. All the performances are wonderful and as for the Seekers title song it will always give me goose bumps. I think its this movie that really introduced Alan Bates, at any rate I certainly sat up and noticed. I love his performance in this film. He is a rogue that you cannot help but fall in love with. I love the way the film opens especially the pulse of a London that has sadly long gone. Lyn Redgraves big production number is a real hoot and I agree with the comments about James Mason. What a gifted actor he was. Bates is however the real reason why I love the movie. I confess I had an enormous crush on Bates in this role and that scene when you see his bum as he gets out of the bath well, enough said. Lyn Redgrave, James Mason and the remarkable Rampling are all marvelous.

Reviews seem to miss the real theme of this film, which is about the voyage of self-discovery of a person who feels out of sync with her world and tries to define, or redefine, her own true self. This theme has a strange attraction for me -- I identify with Georgy's search, I think, because of my own feelings of misalignment with the world or alienation. Unfortunately, as a male, it seems that the principal characters in films addressing this theme with sensitivity are invariably women. Perhaps in our society men are expected not to have such uncertainties about themselves or to suppress them, so no films are made. Two other films I enjoyed because of their similar themes are "Muriel's Wedding" and "Thelma and Louise". If you like, you can tell me I'm reading far more into this film than was ever intended, reminiscent of Mark Twain's famous warning. But you won't convince me! Alan

I enjoyed "Georgy Girl" at the time of its original release, but hadn't thought about it until I recently viewed the DVD version. This revisit was well worth it: "Georgy Girl" is a delightful film.

Charlotte Rampling's Meredith is my favorite of the four main characters. Rampling has always been physically stunning, but it's her moody intellect within that keeps Meredith modern rather than a 60s icon who looks sensational in Mary Quant mini-dresses, a darker version of Julie Christie in "Darling" (a character who didn't have too much of a light side herself). Meredith is cool, in control, self-serving, brutal, and surprisingly honest about who she is. "You take me as me," she tells Jos (Alan Bates) as she cajoles him into marrying her, not so much because she's pregnant but because she's bored. It seems in Meredith's view, you can easily get rid of a pregnancy, but boredom requires more skill and is potentially a worse situation in which to find yourself. Other actresses could have successfully made Meredith a bitch, but Rampling makes her fascinating and thus strangely likable. When she exits the film, things go a bit limp, but then there's little left than to move the story to its inevitable conclusion.

Alan Bates plays Jos with such high physical and verbal energy he seems to be all the Marx Brothers rolled into one. His facial expression at the culmination of his strip during the 'I Love You' sequence suggested to me a nod to the great Harpo.

Lynn Redgrave made the role of Georgy so much her own it's difficult to believe the story that Vanessa Redgrave had been originally intended for it -- and even more difficult to imagine Vanessa playing scenes with Rampling.

The title song became a big hit at the time. In the film, the lyrics vary somewhat from the pop version, serving to set up the plot during the opening credits and then comment on its resolution at the end. In between, the song politely vanishes, leaving the classically influenced score by Alexander Faris to take over with its harpsichord riffs and its subtle playfulness. I especially liked the violin solo that accompanies the transition from orgasm to morning sickness.

The dialogue is often fast, overlapping, thrown away, or contains obscure (to me) cultural references, so it's worth enabling the English subtitles for DVD viewing. You wouldn't want to miss "Moss Bros", or Alan Bates' rapid-fire disrobing monologue, or Meredith's contempt for the concert at which she has just played violin: "Beethoven night. They're like animals."

Georgina Parkin is a little bit naive, and she wears innocent heart, front and back, and on her sleeve, she's intelligent and bright, quite self-conscious of her plight, not particularly forthright, don't deserve what she receives; has a father plus a father figure who, at 49 (looks a lot older if you ask me) wants 22, to attend to, all the things his wife's unable, to spread out upon the table, let him consume and deplume the ingénue. Now Georgy shares a flat with Meredith, she has a fella name of Jos she spends time with, although it's reasonable to say, she likes to vary where she plays, a promiscuous, and wild type of miss. But it's quite tricky when you fancy your mates lover, that is, until he plays his cards and you discover, that there could just be a maybe, even though girlfriend's with a baby, in a complicated tale, someone will suffer.

An of its time story that doesn't age quite as well as some 60s dramas, although the performances are great and from some rather talented actors who went on to much greater things.

... it's because it is. But you have to look at the year it was made - 1966. The top film at the box office that year was "The Bible", but the #3 movie was "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". So society and its values were definitely in transition, even in confusion.

The plot is centered on Georgy (Lynn Redgrave), a twenty-something working class British girl who is portrayed as overweight and plain when I think she is adorable. She's on a voyage of self-discovery, but ultimately finds that she's most fulfilled in service to others, in particular her roommate's infant child who is abandoned at birth, and whose care she enthusiastically takes up. This might have been a sweeter tale than it is if not for HOW Georgy manages to keep the child and support her, made especially puzzling by the closing rendition of the title song that infers that this is supposed to be a happy ending! To find out what she did you'll have to watch this yourself. This film was considered controversial for its time, dealing with promiscuity, abortion, hedonism, child abandonment, and classism.

This movie might have even had trouble being made in the US at the time, and it for sure had difficulty with some local TV station managers that considered it unsuitable even five years later. I know that in my hometown, Dallas, no TV station manager would air it as late as the early 70s. If you think that's odd, do realize that the local Dallas ABC affiliate wouldn't air NYPD Blue during its first season in the early 90s because station management considered it obscene!

If you do decide to watch it, remember it's definitely not a comedy though it has comic moments.