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.
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Title: Private Lessons (1981)
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1 nomination.
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Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Sylvia Kristel | ... |
Mallow
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| Howard Hesseman | ... |
Lester
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Eric Brown | ... |
Philly
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Patrick Piccininni | ... |
Sherman
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| Ed Begley Jr. | ... |
Jack Travis
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Pamela Jean Bryant | ... |
Joyce
(as Pamela Bryant)
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Meridith Baer | ... | |
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Ron Foster | ... |
Fillmore
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Peter Elbling | ... |
Waiter
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Beans Morocco | ... |
Green
(as Dan Barrows)
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Dan Greenburg | ... |
Hotel Owner
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Marian Gibson | ... |
Florence
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Judy Helden | ... |
Miss Kristel's Double
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Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
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. Written by Anonymous
Taglines:
When EMANUELLE's Sylvia Kristel is your teacher the bedroom is the classroom [DVD Australia] See more »Genres:
ComedyParents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See more »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
28 August 1981 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Lecciones privadas See more »Box Office
Budget:
$2,800,000 (estimated)Gross:
$26,279,000 (USA)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color (Metrocolor)
Edit
Performed by Air Supply
Composed by Graham Russell
Publisher: Careers Music, Inc/BRM Publishing/Riva Music, Ltd./BMI
Courtesy of: Arista Records, Inc. and Wizard Records/Bigtime, Australia
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Both the name of actor Howard Hesseman, and the character he played, Lester Lewis, were both alliterated. See more »Goofs
Philly's school, "Fredrick Douglass High School," misspells the name of Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895). See more »Soundtracks
Lost In LovePerformed by Air Supply
Composed by Graham Russell
Publisher: Careers Music, Inc/BRM Publishing/Riva Music, Ltd./BMI
Courtesy of: Arista Records, Inc. and Wizard Records/Bigtime, Australia
See more »
When a rich man leaves town for a business trip, he leaves his young 15-year-old son Philly (Eric Brown) at home in the care of his sexy foreign housemaid, Miss Mallow (Sylvia Kristel) and their sniveling chauffeur Lester (Howard Hesseman - 'Johnny Fever' of WKRP IN CINCINNATI). Like many red-blooded teenage boys, Philly and his young buddy Sherman are looking for cheap thrills by spying on sun bathing girls and dreaming of sex. What a surprise Philly's in for when Miss Mallow catches him watching her undress from outside the window one night and then invites him inside to get the best view. Soon, the maid is seducing the boy, and Philly begins to experience every adolescent male's fantasy - scoring with an older woman. The problem is, Miss Mallow and her partner Lester have other plans in store for this aspiring Casanova.
I first saw this unusually risqué teenage comedy/sex fantasy back in 1981 when I was 19, which was considerably older than the 15-year-old character is. But the dream was still something I could relate to, and when I saw that a DVD release was coming out I decided to revisit it and see how it stood up, so to speak, after 25 years. Turns out it's still fun, and Eric Brown is humorous as he stammers while trying to contain his excitement at seeing Sylvia Kristel (and her body double in some shots) naked. Kristel was popular doing this type of film in Europe, so it was interesting to see her in an American production doing something that would never be allowed at your local cineplex today. Not only are some of her sequences sensual, but there are a fair amount of laughs, some of them courtesy of Philly's pudgy know-it-all friend Sherman, and also from Howard Hesseman who has some funny moments being pushed around and humiliated by Ed Begley Jr! As is the case with many early '80s teen comedies, the soundtrack is pretty good too, and features music from Rod Stewart, Air Supply and John Cougar, among others.
The most easily obtainable version of this film I would guess is now the 2006 Lions Gate DVD, but purists should be warned that a couple of quick lower frontal nudity shots have been obscured on this release by an annoying white dot. Well, it's not like this is great art, and the movie doesn't really suffer from the brief obliteration. Besides, this was a forgotten cult classic of sorts and hard to locate for so long that it's just good to be able to view it again. I know some people get uptight about this daring film, especially in these days, but relax. It's just a fun little movie, if not a great one, and sometimes even has a little bit of charm to it as well. And it's nothing that many average teenage boys aren't thinking about already. *** out of ****