SYNOPSIS

Olivia, an innocent English teenager arrives at a small finishing school outside Paris. The majority of the pupils in the school are divided into two camps: those that are devoted to the headmistress, Miss Julie and those who follow Miss Cara, an emotionally manipulative invalid who is obsessed with Miss Julie. Olivia develops an infatuation for Miss Julie and their relation sets Miss Cara ablaze with white-hot jealousy.

PROGRAM NOTE

 One of the few or perhaps the only female director
 in the French film industry during the post-WWII era
 and prior to the pre-New Wave movement in the late
 1950\'s, Jacqueline AUDRY was widely acclaimed for
 her success with the films Gigi (1949) and Minne, the
 Innocent Libertine (1950), which were film adaptations
 of Colette novels and which had radical portrayals of
 women\'s gender roles and sexuality. Her film Olivia
 released after these films was also bold, daring,
 and ahead of its time. Based on the 1949 semiautobiographical
 novel by Dorothy STRACHEY, this film
 featured a lesbian romance that was so sensational
 and unprecedented that its screening was censored
 in the UK. The subject matter of this film – the romance
 between a teacher and a student in an all-girls boarding
 school and sexual relations among female teachers – is
 reminiscent of Girls in Uniform (1931) and The Children\'s
 Hour (1961). In particular, there is no question that Girls
 in Uniform had an influence on Olivia. However, while
 Girls in Uniform emphasizes strict discipline with its
 minimal mis-en-scène and shadows of fascism, Olivia
 celebrates the world of women as an isolated heaven,
 with its mis-en-scène that displays a smoothly curved
 staircase, use of exaggerated soft filters and a flowing,
 elegant panning technique, and fancy decorations and
 costumes. The temptation, sexual tension, and complex
 feelings between student and teacher and also between
 teachers that arise in this suffocating atmosphere
 invoke a sense of claustrophobia. The cruel and violent
 emotions between the two principals, Julie and Cara, and
 the feverish love between Julie and the English girl Olivia
 reach their climax when Julie promises to visit Olivia\'s
 room at night. Along with this particular scene, a scene
 where Olivia states that her desires are different from the
 feelings of the other girls toward Julie is an example that
 shows lesbianism becomes visible and apparent. [CHO
 HyeYoung]