St Trinian's (film)
| St Trinian's | |
|---|---|
| File:St Trinians.jpg | |
| Directed by | Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson |
| Written by | Piers Ashworth Nick Moorcroft Ronald Searle (cartoons) |
| Produced by | Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson |
| Starring | Rupert Everett Colin Firth Mischa Barton Gemma Arterton Talulah Riley Lena Headey Jodie Whittaker Russell Brand Stephen Fry Kathryn Drysdale Tamsin Egerton Celia Imrie Antonia Bernath Lily Cole Paloma Faith Lucy Punch Juno Temple Amara Karan |
| Cinematography | Gavin Finney |
| Edited by | Alex Mackie |
| Music by | Charlie Mole |
| Distributed by | Ealing Studios Fragile Films |
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13.5 million |
St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first four films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966. The 1980 The Wildcats of St Trinian's was not a critical success. The books are actually based on St Trinnean's School for Girls, Edinburgh. Ronald Searle stayed with the parents of a schoolgirl Cecily Johnston during the war and when told about the goings on decided to draw the cartoons. The school was closed shortly after the war and is now St Leonards House in Pollock Halls, student residences for Edinburgh University.
Plot
St Trinian's is an anarchic school for uncontrollable girls. The film opens with meek and timid Annabelle Fritton, niece of the highly eccentric headmistress Miss Fritton, being admitted to the school. She meets Kelly, head girl, who shows her around the school and introduces the various cliques in the school - Posh Tottys, Chavs, Emos, Geeks and First Years. Annabelle has a rough first night in the school when her towel and dressing gown are taken from the shower and she is broadcast on the internet by the other girls while running naked from the shower to the dormitory. She phones her father and demands to be taken away from the school.
Flash Harry pays a visit to the school and makes a deal with the girls for some lab-made vodka. The last batch had side effects including blindness, paralysis, and death, all symptoms of methanol poisoning, indicating lack of care in distillation of the liquor.
A few days later the school has a hockey match against Annabelle's old school - their rivals Cheltenham Ladies' College. The Cheltenham captain is Verity Thwaites, daughter of the education minister. The girls give a hostile and violent welcome to their visitors and the match ends in a brawl between the two schools. Later, Annabelle overhears her father telling her aunt that he doesn't think Annabelle fits in with the family, which hurts her feelings. Later that day, her aunt makes her feel a part of the family and gets her to release her anger. The other girls at the school give Annabelle a make-over and make her feel part of the school. Meanwhile the education minister, Geoffrey Thwaites, is inspecting the school. It is revealed that Thwaites and Miss Fritton were acquainted, and possibly romantically linked, while at university. Thwaites' decision to invite the press to witness for themselves the chaos of St Trinian's backfires as St Trinian's appears faultless, while Thwaites is repeatedly humiliated (smashing a tank of ants, being caught with his trousers down in the Posh Tottys' boudoir, being cast into a water butt and finally kicking Miss Fritton's pet dog through an open window, fatally, when it grabs his trouser leg).
Meanwhile, the bank is threatening it with closure for bankruptcy. Kelly hears the talk about closure and tells the rest of the school. They then concoct a plan to save the school by getting to the final of the "School Challenge" quiz tournament (which is to be held in the National Gallery, London), and stealing the painting 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' which is housed there. Annabelle tries to persuade Flash Harry to act as a prestigious gay German art dealer, so that he can sell a false version of the painting to her father. He initially refuses, but Kelly persuades him to comply (as he secretly has feelings for her, although she knows about them and uses them to her advantage; and he does not want to look stupid in front of her). The school team for School Challenge consists of three of the Posh Tottys, Chelsea, Peaches and Chloe. They reach the final by cheating (against Ampleforth they steal the answers before the match; against Bedales they lace their opponents' drinks with magic mushrooms; the Eton team is rendered clueless by their seduction).
During the final Kelly, Taylor and Andrea foil the security for the painting that they're after and eventually retrieve it but on the way back the cable that they used to climb over the top of the audience of the final of School Challenge snaps just after Taylor and Andrea get over to the other side. Kelly gets stuck with no way to get to other side again. Mrs Fritton sees that Kelly needs help and goes to save the day, having to distract education minister Geoffrey Thwaites through a combination of liquor and seduction on the way. Meanwhile Annabelle takes care of Verity.
The school successfully gets the painting and sells it to Carnaby Fritton who doesn't realise it is not the real one which has been returned under the cover of St Trinian's finding it. They receive a £50,000 reward for returning the painting and with the cash from Carnaby Fritton they pay back the money owed to the bank and St Trinian's stays in business.
Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Rupert Everett | Miss Camilla Fritton and Carnaby Fritton |
| Colin Firth | Geoffrey Thwaites |
| Russell Brand | Flash Harry |
| Lena Headey | Miss Dickinson |
| Gemma Arterton | Kelly |
| Tamsin Egerton | Chelsea |
| Lily Cole | Polly |
| Jodie Whittaker | Beverly |
| Antonia Bernath | Chloe |
| Paloma Faith | Andrea |
| Stephen Fry | Himself |
| Anna Chancellor | Miss Bagstock |
| Celia Imrie | Matron |
| Caterina Murino | Miss Maupassant |
| Lucy Punch | Verity Thwaites |
| Talulah Riley | Annabelle Fritton |
| Toby Jones | Bursar |
| Juno Temple | Celia |
| Kathryn Drysdale | Taylor |
| Amara Karan | Peaches |
| Holly Mackie | Tara |
| Cloe Mackie | Tania |
| Tereza Srbova | Anoushka |
| Cheryl Cole, member of Girls Aloud | St Trinian schoolgirl (cameo) |
| Nadine Coyle, member of Girls Aloud | St Trinian schoolgirl (cameo) |
| Sarah Harding, member of Girls Aloud | St Trinian schoolgirl (cameo) |
| Nicola Roberts, member of Girls Aloud | St Trinian schoolgirl (cameo) |
| Kimberley Walsh, member of Girls Aloud | St Trinian schoolgirl (cameo) |
| Steve Furst | Bank Manager |
| Jeremy Thompson | Sky News Presenter |
| Zöe Salmon | St Trinian Schoolgirl Emo (cameo) |
Release and reception
St Trinian's was released in the United Kingdom on December 21 2007, in Australia on March 27 2008, and in New Zealand on April 17 2008. Other European releases are planned for Belgium on July 9 2008, and Germany on August 7 2008.[1][2]
Mixed reviews resulted in a 47% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 7 fresh and 8 rotten. By the end of its run the film had grossed £12,042,854 in the UK [3], surpassing its £7 million production budget. In Australia the film opened at #5 and has so far grossed £1.1 million after four weeks. [4].
It was announced at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that a sequel, St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, also directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, will be released in 2009.[5]
Merchandise
A book based on the film, adapted by Pippa Le Quesne from Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft's screenplay was published in late 2007 by Penguin books, ISBN 978-0-141-32417-3. The accompanying soundtrack was released on December 10, 2007, along with a music video for the theme song performed by Girls Aloud, who make a cameo appearance in the film. St Trinian's was released on region 2 DVD in the UK on April 14, 2008. It is also available on Blu-ray.
Cultural references
St Trinian's makes several references to past films of Colin Firth. Camilla Fritton's dog is named after Firth's starring role as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Geoffrey's toss into a fountain and emerging in a soaking wet shirt refers back to a popular scene in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which starred Firth as Mark Darcy and was itself inspired by Pride and Prejudice.[6] The answer to the quiz question, "What is the name of the book 'First Impressions' more famously known as?", is Pride and Prejudice. In their first meeting, Geoffrey and Miss Fritton mention that they knew each other in "Another Country", the title of a 1984 film starring Firth and Rupert Everett. When the girls first see the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring in the National Gallery, they refer to the film of that name in which Firth played the painter Johannes Vermeer. The girls even refer to his real name in this scene when they see the painting, even though he plays a different character in this film by saying "You can so see why Colin Firth wanted to shag her!"
Other references in St Trinian's are the twins Tara & Tania accidentally blowing up the shed and saying "you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off", a direct reference to the 1960's heist movie The Italian Job. When the Minister suggests St. Trinian's be the first school to be addressed under his new regime, a bureaucrat says "be afraid, be very afraid", a direct quote from the 1987 movie The Fly. The picture in Miss Fritton's study is a painting of Alastair Sim, who played Millicent Fritton, the headmistress in the original films. During the School Challenge final, Holly is shown using the search engine Ask Jeeves after Stephen Fry asks a question, a reference to Fry's role as Jeeves in Jeeves and Wooster. It also makes reference to YouTube, in the scene where Annabelle is running nude the girls have put the live feed on YouTube.
References
- ^ Germany Release dates
- ^ New Zeland release date
- ^ UK Box office
- ^ Australia Box office
- ^ Trinian's girls to return in 2009
- ^ Fenton, Andrew (March 27, 2008). "Colin Firth has ended his feud with Rupert Everett". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
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