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Prussia, 1910: After the death of her mother, young Manuela (Romy
Schneider) is sent to a boarding school, but she receives no sympathy for
her loss there. Rather, the matron (Therese Giehse), a bitter old woman,
sees the school as nothing more than a training ground for future
soldiers' mothers, whose first duty it is to be obedient rather than
indicidualistic, and she is readily seconded by her sedond-in-command Miss
von Racket (Blandine Ebinger). Only Manuela's class teacher, Miss von
Bernburg (Lilli Palmer) shows affection to the girls in general and to
Manuela in particular. Thing is, Manuela mstakes this kind of affection
for love, falls in love with her, and even tries to get physical with her
teacher (which is represented though in a very chaste, almost innocent
way).
Unfortunately though, another student, Alexandra (Danik Patisson), who
was Miss von Bernburg's former favourite and who is in a way also in love
with her, grows jealous, and when after a theatre performance of Romeo
and Juliet (by Shakespeare, in case you wondered), Manuela (who played
Romeo) is a bit (well, more than a bit) drunk and confesses her love for
Miss von Bernburg to the class, Alexandra arranges for the matron to be
present at this incident, too.
Things get into motion pretty fast, Miss von Bernburg is forced to
resign and Manuela is put into solitary ... but then Manuela attempts
suicide, and can be saved only by Miss von Bernburg ... which is when the
matron finally sees the error of her ways ...
After years of doing light hearted kitsch following her tremendous
success in the Sissi-films (1955 - 1957), Mädchen in Uniform was
then 20-year old Romy Schneider's first serious role, which she handles
with aplomb. On paper, the film (actually a remake of a - superior - 1931
film by the same name, directed by Leontine Sagan) might sound interesting
too, touching upon pseudo-militaristic girls' schools and lesbianism alike
... but unfortunately the film gives away all its opportunities (and I am not
saying here it should have been more explicit): The whole lesbian subtext
is very downplayed, to a point where you could find yourself interpreting
the film differently, Lilli Palmer's rather icey performance does not make
one believe a girl could fall in love with her, much of the plot is
reduced to a good (= the sensitive teacher) vs efil (= the militaristic,
bitter matron) dichotomy, and the reconciliation at then end, where the
matron has become a better person, seems like a bad joke at best.
Well, at least this film showed us another side of Romy Schneider, and
she woudl do better afterwards.
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find Mädchen in Uniform at adultvideouniverse.com
