GEORGY GIRL
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1996 Shane R. Burridge
100m.
Lynn Redgrave was never more appealing than when she played the title character in this breezy comedy-drama. As was typical of many British films of the period, this production has kinetic direction, crisp black and white photography, pop music, urban realism, social issues, and contemporary attitudes towards sex. I must admit that I have always found my interest in such films (TO SIR WITH LOVE also springs to mind) to be prejudiced in favor of my enjoyment of their title songs, which instantly evoke nostalgia and affection - unusual considering it was an era I was never a part of! It's a shame The Seekers, who had a number one single with "Georgy Girl", didn't supply a soundtrack throughout the film, as Simon and Garfunkel would do in the following year's THE GRADUATE. They might have provided it with a stronger sense of continuity/personality. As it stands, the film is crammed with music of varying styles - this at least reflects the incidental storyline. Putting it simply, Redgrave shares a flat with her ungrateful, bitchy friend Meredith (Charlotte Rampling) as an alternative to staying with her parents, who are live-in house help for their rich employer (James Mason). She is pressured to become less dowdy and more ladylike. But, being a product of the sixties, she prefers to go her own way.
Refreshingly, Redgrave isn't portrayed as wacky or rebellious, as many other young people were shown to be in other films of the time. She's a perfect alternative for young women who identified with her conservative-yet-free-spirited persona and wanted to be themselves without having to endorse drugs, alcohol, wild parties, or extreme politics. Her friends, however, are not so tame - their attitudes towards premarital sex and abortion were no doubt included to remind viewers of the changing times. Film has spirit but its main problem is that its characters are too mercurial to be taken seriously - especially Alan Bates, who I find miscast here (he's ten years older than Redgrave and Rampling, for a start). By the end of the story you won't believe anything they say - but think further and you'll realize that they probably feel the same way too. Every character is trying to recreate unfulfilled wishes: Redgrave wants to set up a happy home for Rampling's baby; Mason refurbishes his bedroom in the hope he will have a mistress; Bates convinces himself that he's in love. Ironically, it is the nastiest of them all, Rampling, who really gets what she wants, when she drives off in her new boyfriend's Mercedes near the end of the film. Ending remains open to many possible outcomes until the last few frames. The lyrics sung over the closing credits - which you won't find on the single - are unexpectedly bittersweet, especially in light of the shift of expression on Redgrave's face. She and Mason were nominated for Oscars. Silvio Narizzano directed.
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