Georgy Girl (1966)

Why watch this old movie?

I became interested in the free-spitited bohemian actress, Charlotte Rampling, after watching her in Swimming Pool (2003) and Under The Sand (2001) so when I noticed Georgy Girl was her breakout role, I had to see it again. She has a list of film credits longer than most and I plan to watch more of them in the future.

I was in junior high when this british film first came out and the song that was a radio hit. I recall it as a simple story about an ordinary girl who wants more in life, such as a boyfriend. It turns out to be funny because it is so much from another era, but the story is fairly serious. I'm actually surprised that we have not seen a remake of this. It could work well.

Lynn Redgrave is charming as the slightly frumpy young woman living with her gorgeous but irritable roommate played by Charlotte Rampling. Alan Bates is Rampling's fun-loving fiance and James Mason is the middle age millionaire employer of Georgy's dad who is constantly hitting on her. Rampling's character gets pregnant and decides to have the baby when the boyfriend proposes marriage, but no maternal instincts blossom in her. Even back then she was cast as a self-possessed willful woman who prefers life on her own terms. The expression "baby factory" must have evolved from the kind of maternity ward we see her in after the baby's birth. A dozen women are lined up in their beds surrounded by flowers and happy hubbies with babies in basinetts nearby. We watch her alone and restless...then calmly reading a book unmoved by her crying baby, despite the disapproving glances from the other mothers and nurses. Her husband missed the baby's delivery and finally shows up with token flowers...too little too late.

This is a love triangle of a different kind. Georgy and the Alan Bate's character fall in love while his wife is giving birth to their child. Charlotte is happy to turn over the role of mother to Georgy and walks out of the hospital a free woman and into the car of another man. Women's liberation had not fully emerged yet so this was a radical turn of events.

Bates enjoys the easy relationship with Georgy, but the family life does not last long. Without a marriage certificate, the state threatens to take away the child. Georgy ends up marrying the older guy to become legitimate. Georgy is all aglow in her wedding gown with new husband and baby. She found the love she was after with a baby and a man to pay the bills...a frequent tale of the time. At this point we hear some of the song lyrics that were not on the radio version. "Who need a lover when you're a perfect mother at heart." Although this film has a light-hearted tone, the content is actually quite heavy and the relationships are more complex than the average chick flick past and present.