Georgy Girl (1966)

A Kimba and Astro conversation... Astro: so what was James Mason's role? Like what was he in the movie for? Kimba:he appreciated Gy for who she was because he lived with a woman who was as "exciting as a brick". Gy is a symbol of all that's been missing from his life.Astro: I see. (light bulb just came on) Kimba: that is why the bedroom scene with James transforming everything into the opposite of what it was cracked me up! Astro: yes - and in that he was almost transforming it into how he saw Gy. Which was intriguingly the opposite to how Gy saw herself! Living in the 60s was a time where we thought life was fun, and people accepted each other. Looking back now, I see how confused, shallow and unrealistic it was. Kimba: it is the same now, i think each decade holds different confusions. Astro: I thought it interesting when Jos and Gy were looking at each other talking, with Meredith sitting in a chair. They just looked each other, fell in love and kissed, right in front of Meredith! Kimba: Meredeth is truly selfish and horrible. Jos really is a child, and he knows that. When they part, Gy has a smile on her face cause she knows too. Astro: and then she just moved on when he kissed her good-bye on the dock . Kimba: yeah no anger! Astro: Could we ever just feel that way ? Kimba: the movie has to have the characters be extreme. The extremeness offends some people. But it doesn't work without it, because you wouldn't see the contrasts, eg the maternity ward scene. Astro: I just felt all the way thru that it was idealistic - which characterizes the 60s . Kimba: yeah ! This is a serious comedy . Astro: the extreme is funny. Kimba: it is an acquired taste. Many are confused by it and miss the subtleties. It is about people, and if we looked we might recognize some of those people! Yes they are doing/saying horrid things but that is what happens in life. Astro: that is true. I liked James and her Dad sitting on the stairs drinking. Kimba:...the father saying his daughter is a frump and the look on James's faceKimba: and the scene when they tell him his wife is deadAstro: I find conversations when people have had a bit to drink, amusing! Yes - and having to be told that he must be sad and grieving! Kimba: I found that boat scene really touching . Jos was struggling with himself so much and Gy was so understanding. Astro: Meredith showed callousness, James compassion, Georgy loyalty and confidence, Jos frivolousness, her Dad was pragmatic... Kimba: yeah so right. Wife's inability to show anything Astro: also found the words to the song interesting - the change in the words from the start to the end. Astro: James was unhappy for years. Even to making a contract with Gy! Kimba: he must have, so I don't view him as horrid, I really understand him. Astro: yeah - it is a challenge to all of us really. To not just dismiss someone on first pass. Kimba: 3 characters had the ability to see things as they were and the other 3 were selfish Astro: yet all had a tinge of being selfish. All were wanting/seeking something, but some were totally unable to give. There you have it. Recognizing what we want, but being prepared to give it up for others, and not just because we want to be a martyr. Kimba: I like to think that James and Gy will work well together! Astro: I wonder what all those characters will be like today?How would Sara grow up? Would Meredith have any friends - or just more shallow friends? Kimba: and the untiring devotion of the father to James, the scene in the kitchen when he looks upward and talks about him upstairs like he is god! Astro: He is the perfect manservant. Kimba: i think Gy is so warm and although somewhat dysfunctional is just wanting something very simple and lovely from life, and i think she is really only dysfunctional from those around her. Astro: I was thinking that. It was really those around her who were dysfunctional! Astro: she was the 'best' person of all of them. Kimba: i love that scene near the beginning with the children dancing and the slow motion. That was what Georgy was about to me.Astro: yes - that was good. She actually had a good job it seems. Kimba: and she was good at it. Funny how you end up talking about these people like they are your friends or you know them! Astro: it is - easy enough to do if you identify with them though. Kimba: Loved the father he was so classic. James wants passion. He has lived without for so long. It is sad Astro: and he knows what he wants. He is a millionaire and could 'buy' what he wants, but does not. Kimba: and his wife is attractive, but he doesn't want that! Kimba: his wife is orderly too and he doesn't want that! Astro: it is like he only worked out what he wanted later. Kimba: but that's just it hey, you see that so often in real life Astro: and who he wanted. He must have watched Gy grow up. Kimba: see i find it amazing that not many will see the complexities of this movie at all. They will just see the crassness.

I remember buying the 45 rpm record "Georgy Girl" with my paper route money. And teasing the kid named George in our class. I also seem to recall that this was a film of some acclaim and noteworthiness back then. So I was intrigued when I brought it home from our our county library (as well as having been advised for forty years by the song lyrics).I wasn't just disappointed, I was annoyed. Such a shallow, superficial plot with a convenient and contrived ending! Early in the film we learn Georgy has a rich suitor, instantly determining that such is too facile and material a road for our heroine to take. Georgy then undergoes a variety of life experiences before her epiphany -without an ounce of compromise- to, duh, marry the rich guy. Worse, said career move appears to result from a direct rejection of the problems resulting from not having a ton of money.The pop version song "Georgy Girl" fades out with calls to better oneself; e.g., "The World will see...A new Georgy Girl...Wake up Georgy... Wake up Georgy Girl". Adding insult to injury, I almost fell off my Lazy Boy when, to the same accompaniment, the film ends, "You're rich Georgy Girl!...You're rich Georgy Girl!...". Well at least we now know what's important.Alan Bates overacts as one of the most irritating characters I've ever suffered though. Given my whimsical memory, idea, etc., of what I thought this movie was, I wish I had not seen it!

This film gets seven out of ten on acting alone. James Mason is perfectly creepy, and yet you can still sympathize with him. Lynn Redgrave is just... perfect for the part. And Alan Bates.... yes I confess it, I had a crush on him too. Favorite scene: the alternating, silent close-ups between Georgy and Jos, as Jos slowly realizes that he is, in fact, in love with Georgy (before following her around half of London yelling "I love you!" at the top of his lungs!!!) I seem to recall that the ending was somewhat disturbing for me when I originally watched it... I wonder how I would feel about it now. Most reviewers I've read seem to believe that Georgy has found herself in the end; I disagree. I leave individual viewers to make up their own minds.

I've always known about Georgy Girl the song by the Seekers but never the movie until recently. Based on a book by Margaret Forster the movie stars a very young Lynn Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and James Mason. With a pretty catchy tune the movie is a fine example of good acting, simple story telling and a well written script.Georgy is a big girl in search of love and she finds it in the most unlikeliest of places. This movie also reminds of Angie with Geena Davis and Where The Heart is with Natalie Portman.I've never seen the zany side of Lynn Redgrave before and I thought she was really funny. At times the movie seems real and at times it seems like a fairy tale but it's entertaining nevertheless.This is how I remember the English movies those days when the language is spoken with precise intonation and distinction that one can actually hear every single word that is said.It's a lovely story about life and how we depict it and make it and call it our reality, our hell or our paradise. And the song is so singable you will never have a chance to forget it even if you wanted to.