Private Lessons (1981)

An immigrant housemaid seduces a 15-year-old boy and later fakes her own death as part of his chauffeur's blackmail plot. Troubles arise when the two start to fall in love.

Director:

Alan Myerson

Writers:

Dan Greenburg (novel), Dan Greenburg (screenplay)

Stars:

Sylvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman, Eric Brown

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sylvia Kristel	...	Nicole Mallow
Howard Hesseman	...	Lester Lewis
Eric Brown	...	Phillip Fillmore
Meridith Baer	...	Miss Phipps
Pamela Jean Bryant	...	Joyce (as Pamela Bryant)
Peter Elbling	...	Waiter
Patrick Piccininni	...	Sherman
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Jack Travis
Ron Foster	...	Mr. Fillmore
Beans Morocco	...	Green, The Gardener (as Dan Barrows)
Dan Greenburg	...	Hotel Owner
Marian Gibson	...	Florence
Judy Helden	...	Miss Kristel's Double

Storyline

Phillip Filmore is a naive, 15-year-old, preoccupied with sex, who develops a crush on Nicole Mallow, the new 30-something, French housekeeper and sitter to look after him when Phillip's father is out of town for the summer on a "business" trip. But Mr. Filmore's unscrupulous chauffeur, Lester Lewis, takes advantage of Phillip's crush on Nicole to hire her to seduce the youth, then draws her into a plot to fake her own death in a blackmail scheme aimed to drain Phillip's trust fund.

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Plot Keywords:

chauffeur | blackmail | sex | housemaid | love | 

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Taglines:

What happened to him should happen to you

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lecciones privadas

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,800,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$26,279,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barry & Enright Productions, Jensen Farley Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

While most of the movie was filmed in the Pheonix, Arizona area the production had to cross the border into New Mexico to film the love scenes as the age of consent in Arizona is 18 and in New Mexico it is 16.

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Goofs

The movie is meant to take place over the summer, however when we first see Nicole she is picking oranges, which tend to ripen in December and January.

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Connections

Remade as Il peccato di Lola (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Doc"
Performed by Earl Klugh
Composed by Earl Klugh
Publisher: United Artists Music Co., Inc/Earl Klugh Music
Courtesy of Liberty Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A Great Little Fireside Film

This excellent, though aging badly, film, is well worth digging out of the dusty shelves of your video store. It's definitely not highbrow fare, but this story of an earnest 15 year old's relationship with his sexy French housekeeper is certainly watchable.

Although the subject matter is actually quite serious, many moments in the movie will have you laughing out loud. Patrick Piccininni is priceless as the best friend of the 15 year old Phillip, who eggs him on. Eric Brown is even better as Phillip, who isn't quite sure how to respond to his housekeeper's advances.

"Private Lessons" is more than just a reversed-role "Lolita"--it's far more entertaining to watch. It does, however, join a whole series of fairly predictable teen guy-and-teacher/housekeeper movies like "My Tutor". What I especially like about this film, though, is that it doesn't have the heavy air of moral judgment hanging around it. The characters are depicted as perfectly-capable agents of their own will, which is extremely refreshing. It was hard to watch "Private Lessons", though, without looking back on my teen years and longing to be in Phillip's shoes!