7 Plus Seven (1970)

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children after a seven-year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Apted

Stars:

Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Bassett, Symon Basterfield

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bruce Balden	...	Self (as Bruce)
Jacqueline Bassett	...	Self (as Jackie)
Symon Basterfield	...	Self (as Symon)
Andrew Brackfield	...	Self (as Andrew)
John Brisby	...	Self (as John)
Peter Davies	...	Self (as Peter)
Suzanne Dewey	...	Self (as Suzy)
Charles Furneaux	...	Self (as Charles)
Nicholas Hitchon	...	Self (as Nicholas)
Neil Hughes	...	Self (as Neil)
Lynn Johnson	...	Self (as Lindsay)
Paul Kligerman	...	Self (as Paul)
Susan Sullivan	...	Self (as Susan)
Tony Walker	...	Self (as Tony)

Storyline

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children after a seven-year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

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Plot Keywords:

exclusive school | british education | british youth | british | educational ambition | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Apted was an assistant director and researcher on Seven Up! (1964). Here, he steps in to the director's chair, vacated by Paul Almond. Apted would go on to direct all the rest of the films, and indeed would be the name associated with the series.

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Quotes

Himself - Narrator: Are you happier now than you were then?

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Connections

Referenced in Life Itself (2014)

User Reviews

among other things, a masterpiece of juxtaposition

This is not at all to put down the first entry in the "Up" Series by Michael Apted, Seven Up, but if you were to first go to this film- 7 Plus Seven- you actually would not be missing that much in the story lines of the children profiled. This is because Apted does something very smart in how he structures the material in this segment of the series, when all the children interviewed before when seven are now fourteen. He makes sure that the audience, who may need to be reminded who everyone is (at the time this was made, remember, things weren't re-aired frequently on TV, so many may have forgotten by seven years past), by simply just taking footage from the first segment of the Up Series and putting one interview following the previous one. It's not being lazy and relying on past clips, but a very precise form of counterpoint.

We see this as Apted unfolds the interviews with subjects like Bruce, Jackie, Suzanne, Nick, Charles, Lynn, all of them are here, and we see how specifically they've grown in physical appearance and voice, yes, but also in attitude and outlook. Apted asks similar questions from before, like "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Things like that, or 'what, if anything, do you watch on TV', and then it transitions into deeper, heavier questions that the kids, as when they were seven (far more articulate than many parents would ever give credit for) can at least try to tackle. Love, politics, religion, race, the state of Britain, hippies, nothing is really too far off limits to ask these kids, and we get a full spectrum of something very elemental: who are these people, if only in profile?

Apted is asking specific questions and getting honest answers- sometimes awkward, like when asked about girlfriends and boyfriends, but then again they are fourteen after all, that dastardly age to be- and its all framed about what was said in the past and what's said in the present. Another asset is the style; before it was black and white, looking like a very long newsreel story for movie theaters, and now it's in color, albeit faded over time, and the difference is striking (not to mention the intensity of the camera in some instances, as in 1963 Apted wanted to capture the rambunctious side of seven years olds).

While I'm not sure if 7 Plus Seven ranks as one of the best documentaries ever, and frankly I still hold out hope for any of the others in the series to top it, it does pose some of the best use of juxtaposition in a documentary I've ever come across. It's about growth, perspective, and innocence fading and changing, with more yet to come.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 December 1970 (UK)

Also Known As:

14 Up

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

52 min

Color:

Black and White (Sepia) (archive footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1