The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Starring: Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Gordon Jackson, Celia Johnson, Diane Grayson, Jane Carr, Shirley Steedman
Directed by: Ronald Neame
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
1969

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An influential teacher (Maggie Smith) angers much of the authority around her as she works tirelessly to inspire the children around her with her specific beliefs.

Review:

Tim: I wasn't prepared for how much I enjoyed The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It starts out typically enough and lulls you into a false sense of security- it feels like it's yet another movie about an inspirational, larger-than-life teacher influencing the next generation of brilliant minds. And yet, as the story develops, you realize all is not what you anticipated it would be. The story proves more complex, more nuanced than you would have expected. By the time the film comes to its shattering end, you just kind of sit there, processing everything you saw. This film surprised me continually and proved to be a truly great movie.

The most visible strength this film has is the incredible performance of Maggie Smith in the lead role. I give her such credit for playing such a complicated role. Miss Brodie isn't one thing- she's wonderful, inspirational, selfish, naive, manipulative, arrogant, kind, and scandalous, all mixed into one package. It's a hard role, but Smith absolutely nails it. Her Brodie is this fascinating, crazy character that you can't quite pin down. Her performance feels authentic and it's hard to take your eyes off her. While so much of the film happens around her, so much of import happens in the periphery, but you're still drawn to her performance. It's no surprise that she (deservedly) won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. She's incredible. The role required a good amount of range and Smith delivers just an unforgettable performance.

What makes this film so fascinating is that you believe the movie is all about Brodie, but as the film develops, you realize she's not even the most important character in this film. Unexpectedly, one of her students quietly becomes even more important. The movie fortunately cast Pamela Franklin in this role. I genuinely believe Franklin should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. For a young actress, she's incredible- she is called upon to do so much in this role. She starts off young, innocent, idealistic. And through the film, she grows up, matures, becomes a bit world-weary and sees that what she used to believe may no longer be true. Her arc is fascinating and one of the reasons I so loved this film. And Franklin is so believable every step of the way. She had an equally important and challenging role as Smith. I loved her performance and her character emerges as the most interesting, important one in the film. While Smith's Brodie draws all the attention, Franklin's character quietly becomes essential. It's really a cool, interesting aspect of this story.

I have to highlight the final conflict between Smith and Franklin. It features both of them at the top of their game and is one of the most dramatic, thought-provoking scenes I've witnessed in a long time. It's the perfect conclusion to a sneakily complex movie.

I've seen over 3,100+ movies. It's easy for me to tell myself the obvious lie that at this point, I've seen all the great ones. Every year, I discover a ton of these films that I didn't know much about, but just blow me away. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is one of those films.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



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