Good Little Girls (1971)

Jean-Claude Roy’s Good Little Girls was based on the 1858 novel Les petites filles modèles (which translates into English as Good Little Girls) by the Countess of Ségur. The novel has not just been updated to the 1970s it’s been turned into a sex comedy. Which, surprisingly enough, works extremely well.

The Comtesse de Fleurville (Michèle Girardon) makes a successful living as a television sex therapist and as you might expect she has a fairly free-wheeling attitude to sex. She has two daughters, Madeleine (Jessica Dorn) and Camille (Marie-Georges Pascal). They’re keen to emulate their mother’s sexual adventurousness.

A car accident brings Madame de Rosbourg (Bella Darvi) and her daughter Marguerite (Cathy Reghin) into their lives. The two newcomers move into the Comtesse de Fleurville’s spacious chateau.

There are now three girls but there will soon be a fourth. The de Fleurvilles’ neighbour Madame Fichini was going to send her daughter Sophie (Sylvie Lafontaine) off to boarding school but she is persuaded to allow Sophie to move in with the de Fleurvilles.

The four girls are all sex-mad and obsessed with the pursuit of boys, especially the handsome François. Meanwhile the family doctor, Dr. Luçon (François Guérin), is attending to the sexual needs of the comtesse and Madame de Rosbourg and to the equally voracious sexual needs of the maid Elisa as well. The poor man is on the verge of exhaustion.

We’re surprised when the rather butch Madame Fichini joins the parade of women eager to be seduced by the doctor. We had the impression that men were probably not of interest to her and that she was more interested in finding her way into the Comtesse de Fleurville’s bed.

Madame Fichini is a firm believer in strict discipline and Sophie’s back shows evidence of that. But Sophie seems to share her mother’s belief in discipline.

The women hear that in the nearby woods there is a workman’s camp and that the workmen have been stuck there for months without women. They are now sex-crazed and no woman can safely enter the woods. Naturally two of the girls immediately head for the woods. They do encounter a young man there but much to their disappointment it turns out that his intentions are entirely honourable. His name is Julien and he’s part of a religious group and he’s into spirituality rather than carnal pleasures.

Julien gets invited to a party at the de Fleurville chateau. The girls have not given up hope that they can convert him to the pleasures of the flesh.

There’s not much more than that to the plot but it’s executed with a certain amount of style.

I’ve come to rather enjoy the sex comedies of the 70s. It’s fascinating to see how they differ from country to country. The British sex comedies aimed for good-natured schoolboy naughtiness. The Italians aimed for style and sophistication. The Japanese went for inspired craziness. French sex comedies on the other hand are somewhat whimsical and oddball.

Good Little Girls is witty and charming and it’s cheerful lighthearted fun. There is nothing approaching graphic sex and while there’s plenty of nudity it’s limited to topless scenes and the occasional bare bottom. There’s a certain likeable innocence to this movie. The girls are boy-crazy but they’re really very nice girls.

Nucleus Films released this one on DVD on their aptly-named Naughty label. The transfer is acceptable but clearly there’s been no attempt at a full restoration. For which they can hardly be blamed since it would be unlikely to be financially viable for such a niche film. It’s in French with English subtitles.

Jean-Claude Roy made rather a lot of movies and the ones I’ve seen have been quite interesting with a certain distinctive flavour. I’ve reviewed several of his movies. I highly recommend the quirky Justine’s Hot Nights (1976). Éducation Anglaise (1983) is also quite good as is Scandalous Photos (1979) which has the advantage of starring the always wonderful Brigitte Lahaie. In fact Miss Lahaie makes an appearance in Éducation Anglaise as well.

Good Little Girls is tame but classy erotica and it’s highly recommended.