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Georgy (Lynn Redgrave, in an Oscar-nominated role) is a modern young woman with an extravagant personality whom some consider too loud, even sloppy. Redgrave is just one of the almost-famous actors in this midcentury take on love, sex, and fidelity. In the movie’s somewhat convoluted set-up, Georgy teaches children’s theater classes in the house where her parents work as servants for Mr. James Leamington ( James Mason, who was also nominated for an Oscar). She shares an apartment with the temperamental Meredith (Charlotte Rampling) and has a jovial relationship with Meredith’s wisecracking, hipster boyfriend, Jos (Alan Bates). Based on a 1965 novel by Margaret Forster, weaves a complex geometry of love affairs in this pre-women’s-liberation story about sexual autonomy that flirts with but dismisses feminist self-determination.
Mr. Leamington is hot for Georgy. Georgy and Jos have undeniable heat. Meredith is leery of being trapped into marriage. And Georgy isn’t as innocent or unconventional as she believes herself to be. Meredith’s determination to put career before motherhood doesn’t seem unusual in 2021, but
presents her as a vicious ice queen and Georgy as simultaneously manipulative and admirable. It seems a matter of course for the mid-1960s that Jos and Leamington get everything they think they want without a hint of sacrifice. Comedy/drama/romance, not rated, 99 minutes, Amazon Prime Video