I liked Maggie Smith and Pamela Franklin in this film. It was very good and the script was sooooooooo good. Maybe if you saw it and liked it as much as me you will tell me, too. It's set in the 1930s and is about the civil war in Spain and the schoolgirls are told by their teacher to go and fight there.
shareI just watched it for the first time. I liked it too, but I was a bit puzzled about the Mary MacGreggor bit---didn't she realize her brother was fighting for the other side? Was Miss Brodie too self absorbed for this to have dawned on her sooner? I have the feeling that I'm missing something!
shareMary MacGreggor was a mixed-up girl bedazzled by her blind devotion to Jean Brodie, which ultimately cost Mary her life: that is why Sandy rounded on Brodie at the end of the film. After Sandy leaned of Mary needlessly dying soon after joining the Spanish Fascists in the revolution, Sandy realised that Brodie was directly culpable because Brodie's teaching agenda was to inculcate her pupils with her own political -- and dangerous -- ideals on to young and impressionable minds.
You can't hold a candle to Gulbenkian.
If you read the book, Sandy's motives for "betraying" Miss Brodie are not as justified or admirable as in the movie. They're both very selfish people. I don't think anybody really "wins" in the movie or the book. I loved the movie, even though the end was really off from the book, especially in character development. But I liked the way they interepreted the characters and their, well, character.
Another thing, how can this film be only PG? There was pretty much full frontal nudity and quite a bit of other sexual content as well. Seems worse than Titanic, and that movie got a PG-13. I'll never understand the MPAA.
Are you in God's grace?
Joan of Arc: If not, God put me there, and if so, God keep me there!
As I've never read the book, can you tell me if the book offers more insight into the central chracters as depicted in the film.
You can't hold a candle to Gulbenkian.
I would also like to know other people's opinions about the movie as compared to the book. But since you asked, here's the way I see it. There is a big change to Sandy's character and movtives from the book to the movie. So the insight into Sandy's character that the book gives cannot be compared to Sandy's portrayal in the movie, as they are getting at different things.
Miss Brodie's character, though, doesn't change too much, at least in my opinion. On the contrary to your question, I think the movie offers more insight into Miss B. than the book does. This is due to the fact that the book focuses on Sandy, while the movie focuses on Miss Brodie. While I think Sandy's the more interesting character in both movie and book, the portrayal of Miss Brodie in the movie is very strong indeed, and Maggie Smith's outstanding performance confirms my view of Miss Brodie as a pitiful, slightly crazed woman, but one who doesn't understand the harm she's causing. We can be less forgiving of Sandy, who in the book knew exactly what harm she was causing Miss Brodie, and, to me, she reveled in that fact. But like I said, the movie portrays Sandy differently and therefore doesn't so much as offer insight into her character as it does change Sandy's motives completely.
Of course, someone else may have a different opinion. You should read the book; it's good. You can then draw your own conclusions.
Are you in God's grace?
Joan of Arc: If not, God put me there, and if so, God keep me there!
I can't even FIND the book anywhere-is it even still in print?
shareI read the book at university (published by Penguin - ISBN 014002235x, if that helps). I'll probably reread it having just seen the film for the first time. I remember the scope of the book is broader - for one thing it flashes forward to the girls' later lives at various points.
That said, I thought the film was outstanding in its own right - much better than I'd expected. Maggie Smith's greatness in the role was a given, but, as someone else said, it was Pamela Franklin who was the revelation for me (I only knew her from The Innocents, when she was much younger) - she really burned up the screen!
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To the PG rating question: When this film was made thee was no PG-13.
They don't go back and re-rate films (do they?) If thye do that's news to me.
I agree that now it would be PG-13.
Think about how toxic Miss Brodie was to her group of 12 year old girls--giving them these PG 13 lessons daily! ha!
I think Smith's performance here is one of the best on the screen. It's definitely one of the most underrated Best Actress wins.
sharei thought it was well acted all round
Ehup me duck!
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i saw it today, and i was hooked on it. normally i see maggie smith playing a shirevelled stone of a witch or something (which i quite like) but in this one i saw such good acting from her, i thought it was amzing. never thought she could act out that kind of emotion and the girls were really good acting with her, especially sandy
Ehup me duck!
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dammit! i need to get hold of that book!
Muriel Spark 1918-2006
The book came first, then a play was written about it, followed by the movie which is mostly an adaptation of the play. There's a scene in the movie where Brodie and Sandy are having tea in Brodie's apartment; in the play, that scene takes place on a golf course.
I read the book a few years agao and to me it wasn`t nearly as memorable as the film. Maggie Smith is so wonderful that you can`t picture anyone else in the role (although Vanessa Redgrave originated the role on stage). I love the adaptaion they did and think it`s a great improvement to the story. Pamela Franklin and Smiths final showdown is a wondefully written and played scene.
shareAgreed - I read the book years ago and thought it was crap but I caught this on TV the other night. It was like looking into a time machine for me since I had never seen Maggie Smith as a young actress and Pamela Franklin was excellent; I thought the movie was great and one of the few cases where it was much better than the book.
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