MovieChat Forums > The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) Discussion > Why does this film 'do my head in'?

Why does this film 'do my head in'?

posted 18 years ago by mere87
9 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film for the first time a few years ago and stll think about it. It's the only film I've ever bought a soundtrack for and I even went to bloody Edinburgh to see the locations, amongst other things of course. There are one or two other films that have left a deep impression but for some reason this one seems to top the list. I think its possibly because of the fairly idyllic representation of childhood and adolescence (rites of passage and all that) and, more disturbingly, possibly because I fancy Jean Brodie and sympathise with Teddy Lloyd. However, I am not an art teacher and went to a comprehensive school on the south coast as opposed to a posh school in Scotland. Reading some of the other comments, I get the impression that other people have been similarly affected by the film, so any views on it would be good to hear.

[–] mit800 18 years ago

It`s one of my favorite films. Maggie Smith turns in one of the top 5 best performances by an actress in screen history. Once seen she is truly unforgettable. I also bought the soundtrack (two versions actually-one had a hirschfeld drawing on the cover and the other had the artwork from the film poster). I also bought the book and the film poster. Pamela Franklin and Celia Johnson are both excellent as well as are the two leading men. The showdown (actually both showdowns-one with Miss Mackay and one with Sandy) with Smith and Franklin near the end I have memorized word for word having seen it so many times.

I know Vanessa Redgrave had played Brodie on stage but I can`t imagine her bringing as much to the role (both humor and pathos) as Smith did. Julie Andrews was also offered the part but (wisely) turned it down.

I am a teacher. First. Last. Always!!

[–] blackman_806 18 years ago

Maggie Smith is breath taking, the showdown with Mrs Mackay is something you want to keep rewinding. I think the cast during that scene was actually taken back by Maggie as that scene alone snagged her the Oscar.

And the ending is truly unforgettable, i have deep sympathy for Jean as her world deteroriates and she screams to the traitor "assasined!"...brilliant.

This film should be shown to Film Study classes and English Literature classes. I'm currently reading the book, while still excellent it doesn't have that larger then life feeling that Smith brings to the role.

EEK! Julie Andrews would of quickly made it into a horrible affair she wouldn't have the intensity for such a role, while Vanessa Redgrave would of at least snagged an Oscar Nom. Probably not the Oscar but if Julie Andrews was in it then it would of have been remade a few years later quite probably.

[–] Louisville88 18 years ago

Vanessa Redgrave was the first actress they asked to play Jean. Vanessa considered it, but then turned it down because she wanted to play Isadora Duncan in Isadora (for which she was Oscar nominated).

Vanessa and Maggie are friends. They have said they have gotten roles that they other other has turned down. This has to be/is Maggie's biggest and luckiest break of the roles turned down. She sparkled in this film. Redgrave could have easily won the Oscar as well since she too, sparkled in the original stage version.

Julie Andrews would have ruined it.

[–] michael1951 18 years ago

Vanessa Redgrave as Jean Brodie versus Jane Fonda as Gloria Beatty. That would have been an interesting match-up. Jane would have won the Oscar. But Maggie Smith versus Jane Fonda, no way. Dearly as I love J-Fo, Maggie Smith deserved it over her. (A shame too, because They Shoot Horses is definitely the best of J-Fo's earlier career, far better as a movie and as a performance than Klute.)

Manuscripts don't burn.

[–] Artpix 18 years ago

It's a great film, I love it also. Just bought two Lp's myself, it's a wonderful film and I'm sure the soundtrack is great also. I have done a few location trips myself, most recently to Paris, to see the Studio of Man Ray an artist who's work I admire greatly. When you actually see these places, it is a wonderful experience that makes the artists hyper-real, I always hope their spirits are around the nighborhood and maybe a little can rub off on me.

If you enjoyed this film, may I recommend "The Browning Version." Be prepared,you may have to go on another pilgramage.

[–] milliedil 17 years ago

Julie Andrews, then the biggest box office star in the world, turned down the role because she did not want to play another character so closely associated with children (she also turned down GOODBYE, MR CHIPS and would not consider playing Nancy in OLIVER! for the same reason).

Julie is my favorite star in all the world and, contrary to what others say, I think she could have been a revelation in the role. Neame would have drawn a surprising performance from her and her own artistic ambitions would have lead her to play against the good-girl persona that limited her film career up to that point (she was trying to do just that by playing a rather cold and bitchy Gertrude Lawrence in STAR! and a WWI-era German spy in DARLING LILI.) Playing against her natural warmth, ebullience and innate quality of common sense, she might have been truly inspirational to her "special girls" and all the more dangerous because of it. She might not have had the slightly mad fierceness and eccentricity of Smith, but I think she could have pulled it off. Had she done it, it might have been successful at changing [or at least expanding] her persona for the general public.

But, t'was not to be. Her good chum Maggie Smith benefited greatly from her decision and went on to deliver a brilliant, unforgettable performance (I think the only "flaw" is that the absolute power of her physical attraction ove rthe men in her life is a shade unrealistic). It's my favorite Oscar-winning best acterss performance in Academy history.

Redgrave played the part in London to great acclaim (no question would ever linger over her ability to seduce the immediate world into loving her and desiring to please her, despite the politics of her character), and Zoe Caldwell won the Tony for it on Broadway. I am sure Caldwell was mesmerizing but, like Smith, it was the sheer force and magnetism of her personality that compensated for any physical deficiencies.

"Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind."

[–] cookiela2001 9 years ago

I saw this film for the first time a few years ago and still think about it.

I saw this movie on television when I was little, and it really made an impression on me, too. I think part of the intangible reason is that its author, Muriel Spark, is just a very imaginative and technically accomplished writer....the plot's unique and well laid-out. (I also like her novella The Girls of Slender Means.)

* But as to the more obvious reasons...as an American, the locations seemed very exotic and antique to me: The vast school, Mr. Lawther's estate, the artist's studio. All that was very picturesque and interesting.

* The cast is half made up of children, so it was easy to identify with them, and then when one of them went on to have a romance with an art teacher three times her age....WELL (!!!)

* Ms. Brodie is very magnetic in a kind of crazy, bravura way. She's wonderful, and also a little embarrassing. It's like watching someone drunk at a very public party.

I think I found all those elements very engaging.

.

[–] ronfirv 9 years ago

Locations "exotic"? Those were the real Edinburgh. (I was born & raised in the city).

Ms Brodie was extrovert, bohemian to an extent, artistic and colourful. A hint too of eccentricity, in a very Scottish/British way. Yes, she was wonderful, I loved her.

[–] rexamillion (62) 2 years ago

I'm surprised there's not a better answer in 17 years!

For me the thing that makes it stick is how, if you go in with no knowledge of the plot as I did, at the beginning you really can't help taking Miss Brodie's side, admiring her, and getting as caught up as the children do in her stories and personality.

Then, we go on a journey, just as Sandy does as she ages, as bit by bit we are forced to realize that not is all as it seems, that maybe the headmistress is right, and we start to see more and more cracks in Miss Brodie. It starts with her love for Mussolini, which just comes out of nowhere and slaps modern audiences in the face! (well, actually, the fact that it's revealed early on she had an affair w/a married teacher is already a red flag, but we forgive it, don't we?)
Then the retelling of the story about he young lover who died, revealing it's a bit of an obsession, followed by talking about Jenny as some sort of sex object.

By the end while Sandy herself isn't so easy to like, you have to agree with what she finally says to Miss Brodie at the end.

the filmmakers did a brilliant job of taking us on a 2 hour ride which ends nowhere close to what we think at the beginning, when it seems we're in for a Miss Chips, isn't she a great teacher, we all need to fight the system, film!
Smart smart movie and I'm not going to forget it, it's rare when a film, especially one from 50 years ago, can surprise me so much. I had no idea where it was heading!

We are Sandy. At the beginning we are taken in by the character, but by the end see her with pity or hatred and/or anger maybe for how she's been manipulating people.