La Liceale (5 Stars)

I decided to watch this Italian comedy today at short notice. I was reminded about it because my last review received a lot of hits over the last 24 hours. As far as I can tell, most of the readers were from France. Maybe it was shown on French television? There must be a reason. When I saw the figures I kicked myself. This is a film that I forgot when I was compiling my top 100 film list. That would have made it the only Italian film in my top 100. Is it really the best Italian film ever made? I haven't watched many Italian films, but it's the best one I've seen.

It was made in 1975, but not released in Germany until a few years later. I saw it in the cinema in 1981. I thought it was a German film, because it was called "Flotte Teens mit heißen Jeans" ("Saucy Teens in Hot Jeans"). That's a silly title, because there are no jeans anywhere in the film. The schoolgirls all wear short skirts.

"La Liceale", which literally means "The high school", is about a 17-year-old girl called Loredana. She's still a virgin, and she's in no hurry to lose her virginity. It's not that she's shy. She's the very opposite. She's aware of the power of her sexuality. She dresses provocatively, doing all she can to tease the boys and the men are around her. She strips naked when she's with her classmates, driving them wild, then runs away when they get excited. In class she lets her teachers look up her skirt, because she thinks it's funny when their faces turn red and they stutter like idiots. When she's in the street she struts proudly, knowing all eyes are on her. It's all a game to her.

That doesn't mean that there's no pain in Loredana's life. She suffers from her parents being separated. Her father has left her mother for a younger woman. Her mother has a new lover.

Loredana finally gives up her power when she meets an older man, a colleague of her father who's in the city on business. Losing her virginity means surrendering her power. She falls in love with him and wants to run away with him. He leaves her without even saying goodbye. There's a message in that.

There are many more details I could say about the film, but I'll stop there. I even took a lot of screenshots from the film which I've now decided not to include. It's enough for you to enjoy the beautiful photo of Gloria Guida as Loredana.

A problem with the film is the poor quality of the DVD. The cover says that it's digitally remastered, but it's still poor quality. A lot more work is necessary to bring the picture up to acceptable quality. The German DVD that I'm holding in my hand is long out of print. There's an Italian DVD without subtitles, but I expect it's the same picture quality as the DVD I own. If you really want to watch it, it's available to watch on Amazon Prime, called "The Teasers".