Like Leontine Sagan’s “Madchen in Uniform” or Jacqueline Audry’s ” Olivia” ,it could have been a milestone in the lesbian cinema.
Sadly ,it is not ; only Nicole Courcel saves something from the wreckage .Guy Casaril ,whose movies were dreadful (“les novices ” , “les pétroleuses” ; “l’astragale” was saved by her principal ,Marlène Jobert , “Piaf ” by its subject) did not rise to the occasion.
His movie,based on a novel by Françoise Mallet-Joris , takes place in the high bourgeoisie ,and acting is affected , with a rather self-conscious manner ,particularly Anicée Alvina and Jean Martin (unconvincing as a tolerant wealthy bourgeois :compare with what Michel Bouquet and Claude Piéplu would do in Chabrol’s movies; note that Chabrol had already broached the subject in “les biches” ).
Don’ t expect to get an eyeful : most of the time ,the actresses keep their clothes on. Apparently , these women are supposed to display a firm independence of men : they go shopping ,they spend the night in a lesbian night club (rarely filmed in mainstream movies) , they make love although the older woman is also the younger’ s father’s lover .
It’ s would be feminism ,but all in all ,it is not so : women need men ,if it were only for their money which provides them with a confortable life ;hence the bourgeois conclusion and the ridiculous final scene.
By and large ,the readers of the book were disappointed.
