The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the perfect antidote to a film such as Dead Poets Society. Instead of a rose-tinted view of romantic individualism, we see the danger of rejecting the everyday world and its petty conformity. Maggie Smith is electrifying, taking a character who in other hands would be a hopeless villain and turning her into a deeply flawed but still dignified human being. Her mindless support of Mussolini and Franco strikes us as repugnant (which it is) but should help to remind us that modernism and elevated notions of art were often interlaced with fascistic ideals and a terrifying hatred of humanity (the same hatred is present in many who would wish for Communism to descend and put everyone in their place). Dead Poets Society is easy to love because it tells us that passion and art are right and good and all those against it are small-minded philistines. The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie should make us all feel a little more uneasy, as many of her speeches feel right and true, even as she celebrates fascism the next second. This film has fallen out of favour somewhat but it deserves to be hauled back into the light.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 04:41:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015