Jean Brodie is a teacher at an exclusive Edinburgh girls' school in the 1930s. She is a complex character, embodying attitudes which today seem contradictory. She embraces progressive educational ideas at odds with the school's conservative ethos, preferring to interest her girls in art, culture, politics and philosophy rather than the official syllabus. She stresses that the word "education" is derived from the Latin "educere" (to lead out), seeing her role as leading out her pupils' own ideas by encouraging them to think for themselves. The teaching style of the headmistress and other teachers she characterises as "intrusion" (from "intrudere", to thrust in), the stuffing of heads with useless information. In the twenty-first century these progressive ideas might now seem outdated in their turn, but in the thirties they were daringly radical.
Her politics, however, seem incompatible with her educational philosophy. She is an unashamed Fascist, an admirer of Mussolini and Franco, even encouraging one pupil to fight for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Yet she is not a wholly unsympathetic character.
It was highly controversial for Muriel Spark (the author of the original novel) to give a Fascist sympathiser positive qualities. It is normally an unwritten convention that such characters can only be depicted as outright villains. Communist sympathisers can be portrayed as romantic idealists, even in stories set at the time of the Stalinist purges (like Barbra Streisand's character in "The Way We Were"), but Fascists never. There was, however, a time in the early thirties when Fascism seemed to many to be a viable system of government, if only because the alternatives seemed so unappetising. Liberal capitalism during the Depression seemed to offer only mass poverty and mass unemployment, Soviet Communism only mass terror and mass starvation. For those like Jean Brodie, Fascism was not what it seems today, the political expression of irrational hatreds, but rather an idealistic belief that the choice between the Hooverville and the Gulag, between the Jarrow march and the Ukrainian famine, was no choice at all and that there must be a third alternative.
Jean's educational philosophy is clearly inconsistent with her political one. She never considers whether teachers who distrust authority and encourage pupils to think for themselves would be tolerated under a Fascist regime. As her lover Teddy points out, she is a romantic idealist who projects her own ideals onto the leaders she admires; if she had to live under their regimes, she would probably be bitterly disillusioned as she is a natural rebel against authority. (Despite her views on education, she always refuses to seek a position at a progressive school).
Quite apart from her politics, Jean has a number of weaknesses. Her educational philosophy is elitist, concentrating on a select group of favoured pupils at the expense of the others, and promising to make them the "crème de la crème". Her love life is unconventional for a spinster schoolmistress of this era- she is the lover of two male colleagues, one of them a married man. (He is unable to leave his wife for her because he is a Catholic, but one who follows his Church's teaching on divorce far more faithfully than he does that on adultery). She is, however, devoted to her girls, who mostly repay her devotion in full. When one of them betrays her to the headmistress, we can sympathise with her.
Although Teddy and Jean's other lover, Gordon, play important roles, the main dramatic conflicts are those between the female characters, between Jean and the headmistress and between her and Sandy, the girl who denounces her for her political views. In her dealings with the headmistress, our sympathies are with Jean; Miss Mackay is a sour-faced reactionary who bullies anyone who crosses her and is amazed when Jean stands up to her. Although Miss Mackay objects to Jean teaching politics in the classroom, she shows her own political sympathies by putting up posters of Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin.
In Jean's dealings with Sandy, our sympathies are more mixed. Sandy is a rather serious girl, very sure in her ideas, an attractive girl but one who hides her attractiveness behind thick pebble glasses. She objects not only to Jean's political ideas, particularly after the girl who goes off to fight in Spain is killed, but also to her style of teaching and the fanatical loyalty she attracts from some of the other girls, a loyalty Sandy sees as dangerous. Yet Sandy, who is a rival for Teddy's affections, may also have personal motives for her act of betrayal.
Two things about the film need to be mentioned. One is Rod McKuen's haunting theme song "Jean" (replaced in some recent versions by an orchestral arrangement). The other is director Ronald Neame's use of colour. The predominant colour, apart from a few outdoor scenes where the green of vegetation predominates, is grey- of the buildings of Edinburgh, of the classroom walls, of the girls' uniforms. This tone, however, is relieved by the bright colours- reds, oranges, pinks and purples- favoured by the more free-thinking characters such as Jean and Teddy. (Conservative ones like the headmistress dress very much in monochrome). When Sandy is shown dressed in a bright colour, it signifies her growing independence of mind- except in her case the colour is blue, a colour otherwise not much used in the film.
Maggie Smith well deserved her "Best Actress" award for her portrayal of Jean, which brought out all the many facets of her complex character. Her Scottish accent also sounded very convincing. The other remarkable performance in this film is from the teenage Pamela Franklin as Sandy; it always surprises me when watching this film that she did not go on to become a major adult star. Although the film was not itself nominated for an Oscar, I have always regarded it as one of the most intelligent and significant British films of the late sixties. 8/10
Her politics, however, seem incompatible with her educational philosophy. She is an unashamed Fascist, an admirer of Mussolini and Franco, even encouraging one pupil to fight for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Yet she is not a wholly unsympathetic character.
It was highly controversial for Muriel Spark (the author of the original novel) to give a Fascist sympathiser positive qualities. It is normally an unwritten convention that such characters can only be depicted as outright villains. Communist sympathisers can be portrayed as romantic idealists, even in stories set at the time of the Stalinist purges (like Barbra Streisand's character in "The Way We Were"), but Fascists never. There was, however, a time in the early thirties when Fascism seemed to many to be a viable system of government, if only because the alternatives seemed so unappetising. Liberal capitalism during the Depression seemed to offer only mass poverty and mass unemployment, Soviet Communism only mass terror and mass starvation. For those like Jean Brodie, Fascism was not what it seems today, the political expression of irrational hatreds, but rather an idealistic belief that the choice between the Hooverville and the Gulag, between the Jarrow march and the Ukrainian famine, was no choice at all and that there must be a third alternative.
Jean's educational philosophy is clearly inconsistent with her political one. She never considers whether teachers who distrust authority and encourage pupils to think for themselves would be tolerated under a Fascist regime. As her lover Teddy points out, she is a romantic idealist who projects her own ideals onto the leaders she admires; if she had to live under their regimes, she would probably be bitterly disillusioned as she is a natural rebel against authority. (Despite her views on education, she always refuses to seek a position at a progressive school).
Quite apart from her politics, Jean has a number of weaknesses. Her educational philosophy is elitist, concentrating on a select group of favoured pupils at the expense of the others, and promising to make them the "crème de la crème". Her love life is unconventional for a spinster schoolmistress of this era- she is the lover of two male colleagues, one of them a married man. (He is unable to leave his wife for her because he is a Catholic, but one who follows his Church's teaching on divorce far more faithfully than he does that on adultery). She is, however, devoted to her girls, who mostly repay her devotion in full. When one of them betrays her to the headmistress, we can sympathise with her.
Although Teddy and Jean's other lover, Gordon, play important roles, the main dramatic conflicts are those between the female characters, between Jean and the headmistress and between her and Sandy, the girl who denounces her for her political views. In her dealings with the headmistress, our sympathies are with Jean; Miss Mackay is a sour-faced reactionary who bullies anyone who crosses her and is amazed when Jean stands up to her. Although Miss Mackay objects to Jean teaching politics in the classroom, she shows her own political sympathies by putting up posters of Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin.
In Jean's dealings with Sandy, our sympathies are more mixed. Sandy is a rather serious girl, very sure in her ideas, an attractive girl but one who hides her attractiveness behind thick pebble glasses. She objects not only to Jean's political ideas, particularly after the girl who goes off to fight in Spain is killed, but also to her style of teaching and the fanatical loyalty she attracts from some of the other girls, a loyalty Sandy sees as dangerous. Yet Sandy, who is a rival for Teddy's affections, may also have personal motives for her act of betrayal.
Two things about the film need to be mentioned. One is Rod McKuen's haunting theme song "Jean" (replaced in some recent versions by an orchestral arrangement). The other is director Ronald Neame's use of colour. The predominant colour, apart from a few outdoor scenes where the green of vegetation predominates, is grey- of the buildings of Edinburgh, of the classroom walls, of the girls' uniforms. This tone, however, is relieved by the bright colours- reds, oranges, pinks and purples- favoured by the more free-thinking characters such as Jean and Teddy. (Conservative ones like the headmistress dress very much in monochrome). When Sandy is shown dressed in a bright colour, it signifies her growing independence of mind- except in her case the colour is blue, a colour otherwise not much used in the film.
Maggie Smith well deserved her "Best Actress" award for her portrayal of Jean, which brought out all the many facets of her complex character. Her Scottish accent also sounded very convincing. The other remarkable performance in this film is from the teenage Pamela Franklin as Sandy; it always surprises me when watching this film that she did not go on to become a major adult star. Although the film was not itself nominated for an Oscar, I have always regarded it as one of the most intelligent and significant British films of the late sixties. 8/10