Therese and Isabelle (1968)

Two young girls experience awakening sexuality in the heated atmosphere of a Swiss girls' boarding school...

Director:

Radley Metzger

Writers:

Violette Leduc (based on the novel by), Jesse Vogel (screenplay)

Stars:

Essy Persson, Anna Gaël, Barbara Laage

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Essy Persson	...	Thérèse
Anna Gaël	...	Isabelle (as Anna Gael)
Barbara Laage	...	Thérèse's mother
Anne Vernon	...	Mademoiselle Le Blanc
Simone Paris	...	The Madame
Maurice Teynac	...	Monsieur Martin
Rémy Longa	...	Pierre
Nathalie Nort	...	Renée
Darcy Pulliam	...	Agnès
Suzanne Marchellier	...	Mademoiselle Germain
Bernadette Stern	...	Françoise
Sege Geeraert
Martine Leclerc	...	Martine
Édith Ploquin
Alexandra Kabes

Storyline

A older woman visits the boarding school of her youth after a 20 year absense. While strolling about the deserted grounds and classrooms she remembers her highly emotional experiences there, and well-executed flashbacks occur to her youth. At 17 she is abandoned by her loving mother because of remarriage and left at a European boarding school, disenchanted and lonely. Immediately she meets Isabell, an older, confident, rebellious girl. The two develop a friendship quickly without much conversation or bonding, but have the always temporary chemistry necessary for their friendship to progress into a sexual relationship. The sex scenes are slow and sensual -as they should be for two young girls experiencing lesbianism for the first time. Despite their undying love confessions to each other, Theresa wakes up one morning to find Isabell has left the school, her room and desk replaced with another student. She never see's Isabell again.

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Plot Keywords:

boarding school | love | female frontal nudity | self discovery | lost love | 

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Taglines:

The strangest love story ever told.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Netherlands France West Germany USA

Language:

French English

Release Date:

18 June 1969 (France)

Also Known As:

Thérèse et Isabelle

Filming Locations:

Sans-Souci, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amsterdam Film, Berolina-Film GmbH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed MOS (without recorded dialogue) but with the cast enunciating in English; then prepared in separate English and French language versions for release.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Therese: I never saw Isabelle again.

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Connections

Referenced in American Grindhouse (2010)

User Reviews

This was a milestone for erotic films…

It was a serious attempt to show the developing sexuality of two schoolgirls and did not try to exploit its fact… Even by today's standards, the film is interesting and provocative…

Therese and Isabelle are both attending the same girl's school… Therese is energetic, intelligent, and becomes a mentor for the innocent, naive, sweet Isabelle… She guides her through a number of exotic experiences, including a trip through an exclusive brothel, into her first lesbian liaison, and indirectly into her first heterosexual experience…

The film does not exploit any sex, nor is there an abundance of nudity... The imagery is effective, but sometimes the camera lingers too long, and the story goes slowly…

The director, Radley Metzger, went on to make a number of explicit erotic films under the name of Henry Paris… He always has extremely detailed stories, good acting, and very high standards of cinematography...

Artistically, however, this is perhaps his most complete… His later attempts supplied for entertainment, whereas "Therese and Isabelle" was a study into the nature of youthful eroticism...