Julchen und Jettchen (4 Stars)

I watched this film today as the result of a suggestion by one of my readers. He mentioned it in a comment on "Who finds a friend finds a treasure", and it sounded interesting enough for me to check it out. I'm always open to film suggestions from my readers. I can't promise that I'll watch every film that's recommended, but I'll certainly take every suggestion seriously.

"Julchen und Jettchen", called "The Amorous Sisters" in English, was made by Erwin C. Dietrich in 1982, and it seems to be an afterthought to "Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School". If the films had been made by different directors I would have accused the second film of plagiarism. Just as in the first film, there are seven girls in a boarding school, but this time they aren't Swedish or French. (In the first film there was also a French girl who didn't make her way into the film's title). Attentive viewers will recognise some of the girls. Brigitte Lahaie played Greta in the first film, in this film she's Julchen. France Lomay played Kerstin, this time she's Leonie. Nadine Pascal played Inga, this time she's Tamara. Most interesting is that Elsa Maroussia plays a girl called Selma in both films.

Is Selma supposed to be the same girl? Possibly. She has the same awkward personality as in the first film, and she's always last whenever the girls go anywhere. She even sits in the same place in the classroom, the first desk on the right.

This time Selma isn't as important to the plot, if there's any plot at all. She's not a girl looking to lose her virginity. The whole sexual atmosphere of the school is different. In the first film the girls were hunting for men in and around their school. In this film there are no men anywhere in sight, so the girls are more interested in sexual encounters with one another. In the first film only one girl, Kerstin, was a lesbian, but in this film they're all lesbians. Maybe I should call them part-time lesbians. They go to bed with one another because there are no men.

In the first film the subjects being taught were foreign languages, namely French and English. In this film the only subject in the curriculum is Sexual Education. It's all very hands on. When the teacher, Miss Blanche, talks about the female body, they strip off to check out everything on themselves. I love Swiss boarding schools!

The seven girls share a dormitory. Immediately after lights out the lights go back on, and the girls pair up in one another's beds. But for my readers who have trouble with Mathematics, I need to point something out: if you divide seven by two, one is left over. This leaves Selma alone every night, frustrated while she listens to her classmates moaning and groaning. She has no luck with men or women.

Here we see why the English version is called "The Amorous Sisters". Julchen and Jettchen are the daughters of a pharmacist. They're not interested in the other girls in the boarding school. They just want to enjoy intimacy with one another. Aren't there laws against incest in Switzerland? Or maybe lesbian incest is an exception.

The girls aren't stuck in the classroom all day. Miss Blanche takes them out on field trips to local farms where they can witness sexual reproduction first hand. Miss Blanche is very different to Miss Steiner in the first film. Miss Steiner was strict and remote. Miss Blanche is one of the girls, joining in their fun, although she doesn't go as far as becoming the eighth girl in the dormitory. When the girls run through the woods catching butterflies naked, Miss Blanche strips off and leads the class. This scene is filmed in glorious slow motion, but I confess that I couldn't see any butterflies. Maybe I was distracted.

The school scenes alternate with unrelated scenes about a married couple in Zurich. Magnus Wagner is a bodybuilder who would rather look at himself in the mirror than have sex with his wife. Strange man. The scenes are all the same. Magnus spends time exercising, and then rolls over in bed to sleep, leaving his wife frustrated. After the second time it happened I was throwing my hands in the air and yelling, "What's that got to do with the story?"

At the end of the film we finally see a tenuous connection. Julchen and Jettchen have to go home and take over their father's business due to a family emergency. Their first customer is Mrs. Wagner, asking for advice about how to get her husband interested in sex. I would have said, put Viagra in his coffee, but it hadn't been invented in 1982. Julchen and Jettchen have to resort to old-fashioned methods. The two schoolgirls strip naked, make him horny, then hand him over to his wife. That works.

Nevertheless, the whole Magnus Wagner subplot is unnecessary. It could have been left out of the film and replaced with more beautiful scenes of the girls running in slow motion.

This is an interesting film, slightly more amusing than "Sex Swedish Girls in a Boarding School", but not as erotic. I prefer the first film, but "Julchen und Jettchen" is definitely worth watching, especially if you're a fan of Brigitte Lahaie. Thanks for the recommendation. I might never have discovered the film otherwise.

I have a few other films directed by Erwin C. Dietrich on my shelves. I haven't watched most of them for more than 10 years (i.e. since before I started writing this blog). They're worth a rewatch.