Georgy Girl (1966)

To me, this movie is perfection.

That was an excellent one.

Absolutely Fantastic

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Welcome to the swinging London in the 1960s, this is not a blasé romance comedy about the "it" girl, Meredith (Rampling, barely reaches 20), a modish violinist and party animal, but about her more plain-looking bestie-cum-roommate Georgina, aka. Georgy (Redgrave), the daughter of Ted (Owen) and Doris (Kelly), both work (as the butler and housekeeper) for a rich socialite, the 49- year-old James Leamington (Mason) - this is supposedly to a joke, right? It is impossible for Mr. Mason to pass himself off as that age, he could be well into his 60s judged by his appearance here.Mr. Leamington has tender affection for Georgy, the young and immature daughter of his loyal butler, he has been taking her under his wings through all her life, so on the night of his 49-year- old birthday, he offers a "business" proposal to her and ask her to be his mistress. Just like that, no shame for the gaping age-difference (Georgy is 22 by the way), James is farcical but sincere, he has no pretence, but, no young girl with a scant dosage of self-esteem will say yes immediately to the amoral offer, after a tentative kiss (of course, initiated by James), Georgy starts to dodge him for an answer which she hasn't figured out yet, in such an impressionable age, she even hadn't been kissed before, naturally, her heart is hankering for Jos Jones (Bates), the boyfriend of Meredith, a handsome, but flaky young man.There is an earnest agency of Georgy's predicament, she is a misfit of the trendy milieu and deeply insecure about her modest appeal, she envies the passion between Meredith and Jos, and cannot find her toehold in the quasi ménage-à-trois situation, not until Meredith capriciously decides to keep the baby when she gets pregnant a third time and marries Jos, a radical means to alleviate the boredom of status quo, which only fiercely backfires since she is not a mother material, Rampling is smouldering with vexation and implacably flaunts her fickleness which would later become her trademark in her eclectic body of work - a chic beauty with piercing coldness and seething vehemence.So, when Meredith ditches both her newborn girl and her hubby Jos, it seems that a nuclear family finally comes into being for Georgy, whose maternal nature has been unstoppably awaken ever since Meredith's pregnancy, she takes the baby Sara as her own and harvests Jos' adoration, but, can a puerile Jos take up the duty of being a father? Remember once during their habitual bickering, Meredith and Jos curse each other "bastard" and "whore", which turns out to be quite true. Georgy must learn to accept the reality check, and things will not be too shabby for her, since James' offer is still viable, what's more satisfactory? He is now offering a marriage after the death of his wife.From the skeletal structure, GEORGY GIRL dashes off as an counter-swinging-6os manifestation of a young girl who is inelegantly against the grain, aspiring to settle in a more conventional role of motherhood, which could purposefully serve as a propaganda for the conservatives to dope women back into domestic complacency, but, the film doesn't submit to this myopia, with an uglified Lynn Redgrave carries on her star-making role fervently (she was warranted with her first Oscar nomination), and her Oscar-nominated co-star Mason's mellifluous wooing, in the end of the day, there is a slice of life in the ugly duckling's fairy-tale, she doesn't transform to the swan simply because she is not that kind, and doesn't stays with her knight-in-shining-armour since he is a nutcase, childish and unstable (one might find Bates' acting style a bit laboured and jarring here), she marries more for the convenience than affection, there might not be a happy-ever-after scenario, but that's what she can make the best of her current situation, that's wisdom whoever lives in the real world must learn and we are glad to see her finally latch onto that, like the titular hit theme song sung by THE SEEKERS "life is a reality and you can't always run away", go for it! Georgy Girl!

Was Lynn Redgrave running some sort of school upstairs in James Mason's home? Am shocked that Mason was nominated for best supporting actor here as his part called for him to be a stiff, awkward middle-aged married Lothario with romantic designs on the very frumpy-looking Lynn Redgrave. The nomination should have gone to Alan Bates who was sensational as the free-spirited boyfriend of Charlotte Rampling, who unfortunately married the wrong woman here, but of course that sets off the events of this 1966 film.Far from a beauty, Georgy had so much to give to others as she desired love and acceptance. Never understood how she could be the room-mate of the egocentric and very nasty Charlotte Rampling.Rampling should have snagged a best supporting actress nomination for her role, especially her ambivalence after giving birth.

Probably one of the most popular of movie themes from the Sixties is Hey There Georgy Girl from which The Seekers sold a gazillion records. It perfectly captures the mood of the film set in swinging London of the Sixties.Lynn Redgrave got a deserved Best Actress nomination for playing the title role, a somewhat dowdy, but incredibly vivacious young lady who is just itching to explore life. Her father's employer James Mason who has seen Georgy grow up and he's liking what he sees. Giving music lessons is what keeps Georgy in spending money as she shares her flat with the beautiful Charlotte Rampling and her randy boyfriend Alan Bates. When Bates knocks up Rampling the arrival of the new one changes all their lives.Redgrave is so vivacious in the star role that if Elizabeth Taylor hadn't been up the same year for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Lynn might have copped the Oscar. Mason got a nomination for Best Supporting Actor though with his name he got first billing. The film also got nominations for the song Hey There Georgy Girl and for black&white cinematography.Unjustly neglected is Charlotte Rampling as the beautiful and selfish roommate. She makes it clear she's giving up the child and Bates at Redgrave try to make a go of it. But he's not about to commit.Sometimes the wrong people do bring the little ones into the world. In the end as Mason and Redgrave marry and there's an instant family, the entire audience gives it's good wishes that they'll make it. And some of the best families are created this way.Georgy Girl led by Lynn Redgrave's vivacity is as fresh as it was in 1966.

Marvelous film, an extension of the British kitchen-sink dramas from earlier in the decade (but with a friskier spirit), introduced audiences to Vanessa Redgrave's kid sister, Lynn (in an Oscar-nominated performance). She's Georgina, a too-tall, plain and frumpy, kissless clown, a nursery school teacher who plays second-fiddle to her more beautiful flat-mate--and harbors a crush on her pal's sexy boyfriend in the bargain. While dodging the advances of her father's wealthy employer, Georgina also serves as nursemaid to her roommate when she becomes pregnant, never dreaming of the circumstances to follow. From Margaret Forster's novel, which she co-adapted with Peter Nichols, the film is visually alive, stylish and skittering about with "free and easy" abandon (yet with moral choices and a sobering heart at its center). Redgrave is nothing short of fabulous here; her "Georgy" is often slumped over sulking, an easy mark with little sense of humor--she's either completely inflexible or terribly over-eager. The writing is so clever and enticing for everyone on-screen that the supporting characters tend to upstage Redgrave (and, indeed, her moods are exasperating near the end), but Lynn is a wonderful presence. Also excellent: Charlotte Rampling as pregnant Meredith (who gets the film's most viciously funny lines), Alan Bates as her devilish lover, and James Mason as the older man who is the first to harbor a fancy for our heroine. A delightful bit of comedy-drama, one of the few from this era not to use 'mod' touches to set the time and place. It is as fresh and breezy today as in 1966. *** from ****