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ComedyYear1969Duration1h 56mIMDb7.6

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

ComedyDramaRomance

An eccentric teacher's romantic ideas about life and love impress her young pupils in 1930s Edinburgh, bringing her into direct conflict with the school's conservative headmistress.

Trailer

Cast

Ronald Neame

Director

Maggie Smith

Jean Brodie

Gordon Jackson

Gordon Lowther

Robert Stephens

Teddy Lloyd

Pamela Franklin

Sandy

Celia Johnson

Miss Mackay

Diane Grayson

Jenny

Jane Carr

Mary McGregor

Shirley Steedman

Monica

Lavinia Lang

Emily Carstairs

Antoinette Biggerstaff

Helen McPhee

Margo Cunningham

Miss Campbell

Isla Cameron

Miss McKenzie

Rona Anderson

Miss Lockhart

Ann Way

Miss Gaunt

MW

Molly Weir

Miss Allison Kerr

HG

Helena Gloag

Miss Kerr

John Dunbar

Mr Burrage

HS

Heather Seymour

Clara

MS

Muriel Spark

Writer

Jay Presson Allen

Writer

Comments

10 Comments

ràchìd pòpOct 18, 2024

Beautifully filmed and acted by all the performers, this is a knock-out film. Maggie Smith is incredible right down to her Morningside accent. The other players hold their own against her powerhouse performance. The Edinburgh locations are great and the film has a remarkably nostalgic quality that reflects Brodie's romanticism. A beautiful Rod McKuen score as well! A must see film. An interesting comparison can be made with Dead Poet's Society, which has a male teacher in an all male school (compared to a female teacher in an all girl's school). In Brodie, unorthodox irresponsible teaching is condemned while in Dead Poet's Society it is valorized. In both the teaching methods bring about the death of a student and the school's reaction is similar. The film makers, however, come down on opposite sides in their attitudes toward the teachers

Jamie LimOct 14, 2024

This is my favourite movie ever. It's made 19 years before I was born, but I don't care. I quite started crying after I'd seen this movie... Maggie Smith may be as old as my grandfather, whatever. She's the most wonderful actress ever... Oh, for heaven's sake, if ever someone deserved an Oscar... What more can I say? Miss Jean Brodie is a dangerous, hypocrite and narcistic woman, and yet you like her. You have to like her. When you watch the movie, you know she's a facist, and you know that what she preaches is rubbish, but you just do not caze. Miss Brodie stands for "art, beauty and truth" and you just feel she's just deceived and too progressive for her time. But, as Sandy says it in the end of the movie, she is "a dangerous woman". Yet I love her. And I love Maggie Smith. Dear Dame Maggie, if you ever read this, you are just... so... damn... bloody... great. Oh for heaven's sake... go and watch this movie.

♥️ su-shant 💔🇳🇵Oct 14, 2024

Maggie Smith was already a major star in her native England and 4 years before she had earned an Oscar nomination in the supporting category for her Desdemona in "Othello" with Laurence Olivier but her Jean Brodie arrived to revolutionize everything, specially her own career. She won an Oscar and her win was considered one of the great upsets in the Academy's history. Watching The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 48 years after its original release, told me that the Academy got it right then. Her performance is, quite simply, extraordinary. She's not playing a regular human being, no, she's playing a sort of benign monster, full of good intentions but, goodness, she's mad, mad as a hatter and from that point of view, she's truly dangerous. Maggie Smith goes for it, body and soul, Her confrontation of her superior, played magnificently by Celia Johnson, is of such power that I had to rewind immediately and see it again once, twice, three times. Superlative.

Jemima OsundeOct 14, 2024

I don't know about you, but every time I see Maggie Smith on the screen it's always a good sign to stick around for the whole movie. It holds true with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. A rather slow-moving, at first, and quiet movie, it has a certain seductiveness to it that's just below the surface. As you watch the movie you can almost feel and see the emotions building up. Always at the edge and never missing a beat, Smith executes her role with absolute perfection and in doing so driving the audience insane. Pamela Franklin also comes through as a girl changes Miss Brodie's outlook on her and changes our outlook on Miss Brodie. Torn between rooting for her and hating her, and mostly you'll be doing the latter, Miss Brodie is a character with far less facets to her than one might expect. Only once again proving that trust can be misplaced and appearances can be deceiving.

Hanuman Singh RathorOct 14, 2024

Maggie Smith is mesmerizing. She paints the blind monstrosity of Miss Jean Brodie in the most recognizable human tones. Robin William's character in "Dead Poet Society" is as irresponsible but doesn't go near as far as this repressed masterpiece of a creature. Her romantic slant towards "Il Duce" and what he represents is at the core of the simple complexity of the character. Maggie's mannerism, now a precious trade mark, belong to Miss Brodie, totally. Her arms, her chin, the turning of her face. Pamela Franlklin is also superb. What a powerful young actress -- Where is she now? -- and Celia Johnson's performance is the icing on the cake of this feast of a movie.

user3189685302168May 29, 2023

source: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

chukwuezesamuelNov 18, 2022

Letz83Nov 16, 2022

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

lovenell242Nov 16, 2022

This is perhaps one of the greatest films in the English language -- but only because of Maggie Smith's museum-quality portrayal of Miss Jean Brodie. This masterpiece in mannerisms and manners will be looked upon in the future much in the same way we look upon THE MONA LISA today. I know that this sounds like a stretch, but someday someone will know what I mean. The only downside to this film is the sad realization that if Jean Brodie were to have been played by anyone other than Maggie Smith it would have been a bore -- but oddly enough, this fact alone seems to add to the greatness of the film overall. While my header might be the best line in the film, my personal favorite was, "Indeed, for those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like." Damien

Mohamme_97Nov 16, 2022

I don't know about you, but every time I see Maggie Smith on the screen it's always a good sign to stick around for the whole movie. It holds true with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. A rather slow-moving, at first, and quiet movie, it has a certain seductiveness to it that's just below the surface. As you watch the movie you can almost feel and see the emotions building up. Always at the edge and never missing a beat, Smith executes her role with absolute perfection and in doing so driving the audience insane. Pamela Franklin also comes through as a girl changes Miss Brodie's outlook on her and changes our outlook on Miss Brodie. Torn between rooting for her and hating her, and mostly you'll be doing the latter, Miss Brodie is a character with far less facets to her than one might expect. Only once again proving that trust can be misplaced and appearances can be deceiving.

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