Die Klosterschülerinnen (3½ Stars)

After my disappointment with the lack of sexuality in the St. Trinian's films I've turned to a German film which has no lack of sexuality, "Die Klosterschülerinnen". Literally translated, this means "Convent Schoolgirls", but the official English release was called "Sex Life in a Convent". I prefer the original title, because it emphasises that the film is about the girls, not the nuns.

The film was made in 1972, at the peak of the German Aufklärungsfilm (report film) craze. The first two Schoolgirl Report films had already been made, and the producers wanted to cash in on their popularity. It seems like they couldn't do it fast enough. Everything was filmed at the beginning of January 1972, and the film was already in the cinemas on January 28th. Is that a record? They probably didn't need much in the way of post-production. When they'd finished filming they just packed the film rolls, and off they went.

Like the Schoolgirl Report films, "Convent Schoolgirls" is made up of a series of vignettes, short stories based on real life incidents. Unlike the Schoolgirl Report films, the vignettes aren't clearly separated from one another. It's not always obvious when one story ends and the next begins, especially because the same characters appear in different stories.

The first and longest story is about a 16-year-old girl called Helga. There's an investigation after she attempts to kill herself. The day before her suicide attempt she sneaked out of the convent with some other girls to go to a discotheque. She hung out with a boy called Tommy, so it's thought that he had something to do with it. This wasn't the case. The convent's French teacher, Maria Frisch, played by the famous German actress Elisabeth Volkmann, seduced Helga in her room after drugging her.

Eva-Maria, also 16, is in love with the convent's priest, Father Johannes. They sit together for hours playing on the organ in the chapel. (It's not a double-entendre in German). The other girls tell her he's homosexual, and she believes them. She never wants another man, so she becomes lesbian.

Ines and Petra, both 18, are already lesbians. There's a party in the convent for Fasching – do they really do that in convents? – and two older men force themselves on the girls by getting them drunk. Swine!

As the film continues, each vignette is shorter than the one before. Sometimes men are involved, but the main theme is lesbianism. The narrator (the convent's doctor) tells us that the unnatural separation of teenage girls from boys their own age leads to lesbianism. Is that true? I don't know. I'm not naive enough to believe everything the film says.

"Convent Schoolgirls" provides the sexual thrills that are missing from the St. Trinian's films, but that doesn't make it a better film. It needs a better, more feasible story.

One thing about the film that disappoints me is the false advertising. Ulrike Butz appears on the cover of the German DVD (pictured below), but she's not in the film itself. Like many of the erotic films of the 1970's, there are no credits, neither at the beginning nor the end of the film. The promotional material lists the names of the main actresses, but the list is still incomplete. Experts have added names to the list. When I watched the film again today I paid close attention to see if I could identify Ulrike Butz in a minor role, but no, she was nowhere to be seen.

I wouldn't have missed Ulrike. Would you?

This film is notable as the first film for which Giorgio Moroder wrote the soundtrack. He later went on to win three Oscars for his film music: "Midnight Express" (1979), "Flashdance" (1984) and "Top Gun" (1986).