Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Cortechba Overrated

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Michael_Elliott The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) *** (out of 4)Maggie Smith won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Jean Brodie, a teacher in Edinberg whose rather eccentric teaching style sometimes has the wrong impact on the girls in her class. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE is best remembered today for its Oscar win and there's no question that Smith delivers a fiery performance full of greatness. With that said, I honestly didn't love the film or find it as great as many other have. I thought there were quite a few problems including the pacing, which was just a bit too slow for me. At 116-minutes the slow pacing really made the film drag in spots and I think it could have benefited from running a tad bit shorter. I would also say that I had a hard time connecting with anything that was going on. I thought the film was fascinating because it didn't just show Brodie as a good person or a bad person. Instead it takes a rather honest look and shows her as a good human with flaws. Even with that I still wasn't able to fully get involved with the story as I found it to be going down a rather predictable path. However, the performances here are certainly excellent and reason enough to watch the movie. Smith is simply wonderful as the rather over-the-top teacher who has all sorts of anxieties. I really thought Smith did a marvelous job because this character really is all over the map but the actresses manages to perfectly nail all this weird sides of her. Pamela Franklin plays the supporting part of a woman who feels she's put down by Brodie and this here leads her to an affair with a married teacher. I thought Franklin was just as good as Smith and really liked the way she grew with her character over the course of the film. Both Gordon Jackson and Robert Stephens are also extremely good in their roles.

lasttimeisaw Dame Maggie Smith's first Oscar-winning film, she is Miss Jean Brodie, a zealous teacher in her prime (30s) at a conservative all-girl boarding school in Edinburgh in 1930s. Whose unorthodox teaching method gathers her a group of "Brodie's gals", whom she proudly acclaims as "crème de la crème", but her battle with the old-fashioned principal (an equally excellent and Celia Johnson), her emotional entanglements with two fellow teachers, Teddy (Robert Stephens) and Gordon (Gordan Lowther), may not be the most distraught concerns, when inside her own clique of "crème de la crème", there are betrayal, questions and decrying after her blind adulation of Fascism triggers one of her girl's death. The film is adapted from Muriel Spark's novel and based on Jay Presson Allen's play, who is also the screenwriter. With indoor settings occupy most of the film narrative, the film is exactly the sort of a warm bed for many breath-stopping two-handers, Smith and Johnson's confrontation is marvellous, and the near-end showdown between Smith and Franklin is even more merciless and astonishing (Pamela Franklin is unbelievably snubbed by the Academy for her brave and searing flair in such a sophisticated role as the teenager Sandy); however Smith's quintessential poignancy has been immaculately demonstrated during the monologue scenes when she is playing slides in the classroom, it's the "crème de la crème" of her long-lasting career. Starts as a farce of the equivalent of a female version of DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989, a 7/10), but this film goes farther and digs deeper into the dark side of the humanity, the moral criterion is a moot, one could feel sympathy towards Miss Brodie's plight, but her story is not entirely guiltless. Director Ronald Neame has never acquired much fame as a director, but this one is a pure theatrical gem which hopefully has done some justice to him.

mark.waltz So says Miss Jean Brodie (Maggie Smith), the effervescent teacher at an Edinborough, Scotland girl's school in 1932. Miss Brodie isn't making this remark because she is pompous, opinionated, or domineering---she's simply warning her charges not to take everything she says so literally, or basically warn them, like some cartoons do, "Do not try this at home". Miss Brodie's personality is obvious the moment she tells one of her new charges, "For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like." Yes, you could call her eccentric, and she'd probably agree. She's also very progressive, and that really bothers the imperious head mistress (veteran British actress Celia Johnson). At first, Miss Brodie seems well loved, and that she is, by her pupils, but it's very apparent that some teachers would like to see her go. Try not to laugh at the bird-like assistant to Johnson that delivers a message with such a lemon-puckered smirk, or the very butch gym teacher. This is a film filled with such wonderful little touches that more than a single viewing of this film is needed to devour everything.The wonderful Maggie Smith, with her delightful voice echoing in your ears like a symphony, is radiant. There is almost a glow about her, and it is easy to see why her performance won the Best Actress award, and why more than 40 years later, she is still as beloved as she was during her own prime. She gives her character an authentic Scottish accent, and makes her believable and human even with her eccentricities and faults which are slowly revealed throughout the story. But these faults do not make her unlikable, more controversial for such a conservative (and ultimately dangerous) time. Her speeches on Mussolini are eye-raising for sure, and the outcome of her advice to one student is the tragic misstep that will bring her past her prime in a very surprising way.All of the actresses in the student roles are excellent, particularly Pamela Franklin as the girl who changes the most. The final scene of Franklin walking out of the school with Miss Brodie's words from years before echoing in her mind is unforgettable.

Gloede_The_Saint I can't even put words on this movie. It's too much. If ever there was a film "before it's time" it's this. The level of depravity, insight and emotional power is different from anything else I have seen. It's almost unrateable, but a 10/10 should do.Maggie Smith(who deserved her Oscar!!!!!!!!!!) plays a teacher so obviously deranged but still so human. In fact all the main characters in this film are humans in their purest form: FLAWED, but not directly evil. The characters, no matter how devious do believe to be in the right, and they often are.From the revolutionary fascist snob who considers herself the best example of humanity and has the depravity to try to form the girls in her own image and after her own sickly plans also teaches them individualism and to fight for what they believe. The black hearted, spiteful and utterly conservative Christian principle Miss MacKay(Celia Johnson) do at heart have more or less good intentions, at least in regard to the children. Oh and to make it clear the film is not about the struggle between these characters but rather about life.Beyond any doubt Ronald Neames greatest effort, and this is the director who made The Man Who Never Was. It doesn't even compare in greatness, nor impact. This is just extraordinary. It's a unique power to manage to make such a portrait were nobody are really in the right and despite huge flaws such as fascism, prejudice, adultery, weakness, spitefulness and to some extent even pedophilia they are still likable. This is not only a powerhouse of performances. I need to point out how amazing Pamela Franklin was as well!!!! But also a powerhouse of emotions and uncertainty. In essence, truly human.