| Baby Love | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster to Baby Love (1968) |
|
| Directed by | Alastair Reid |
| Produced by | Guido Coen Michael Klinger (executive producer) |
| Written by | Guido Coen Michael Klinger Alastair Reid Tina Chad Christian (novel) |
| Starring | Ann Lynn Keith Barron Linda Hayden Diana Dors Dick Emery Derek Lamden Patience Collier Sheila Steafel |
| Music by | Max Harris |
| Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
| Editing by | John Glen |
| Distributed by | AVCO Embassy |
| Release date(s) | September 1968 |
| Running time | 93 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Baby Love is a 1968 British drama film, directed by Alastair Reid and starring Ann Lynn, Keith Barron, Linda Hayden and Diana Dors. The film tells the story of a schoolgirl who seduces her adoptive family after her mother commits suicide.
Reid went on to work in television, while Linda Hayden, who was only 15 at the time of filming, went on to star in sexploitation movies, notably two of the films in the Confessions series, Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974) and Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977). The film features an uncredited appearance by Bruce Robinson, later to direct the cult film Withnail & I.
Luci (Linda Hayden) lives alone with her sluttish, alcoholic mother (a strange, mute, cameo by Diana Dors) in a poor suburb of London. Coming home from school one day Luci discovers her mother's body in the bathtub, her mother has slit her wrists.
Robert (Keith Barron), her mother's high school true love, discovers that she wrote a last letter pleading with him to look after Luci. Robert agrees and takes Luci to his home where she meets his rich wife Amy (Anne Lynn) and their teenage son, Nick (Derek Lamden).
Luci holds Robert responsible for her mother's tragic life and death because he not only left her to go on to university, but left her pregnant. Luci's wanton sexuality and resentment soon starts to cause friction in the household as one by one the family comes under her spell.
At a clinic, Luci subtly offers herself up to an older man (a mute role for the prolific Vernon Dobtcheff) in the seat next to her, awaiting his touch on her bare leg, barely disguising the obvious thrill of that touch until the disgusted (yet entranced) Nick pulls her away. But Luci comes across as a young woman simply craving the love and closeness she has never had, in the only way that seems possible to her due not only because of her upbringing but due to the fact that with her mother gone there seems no chance now for the parental love she really wants, so she makes do with the less innocent kind. Even the sexual 'love' of a stranger is better than no love at all.
The relationship with her 'adoptive' mother is a fascinatingly murky one at first. Amy feels a void in her life at never having a daughter. The coldly masculine influence of her son and husband (plus their now equally cold marriage, shown perfectly in a bedroom scene where she says goodnight to Robert but receives no kiss only a grunt.
Amy comes into the bathroom when Luci is in the bathtub and comforts her (due to Luci's obvious distress when the hot, steaming, water reminds her of her mother's suicide scene) and lightly bathes her takes on a pointed lesbian feel due to how old Luci is. Later Luci crudely offers herself sexually to Amy in a desperate attempt to secure her place in the household.
The easy-going family of Robert, a doctor, Amy, his wife, Nick, their teen-age son are each magnetized by the girl but, rather naively, are unaware of each other's reactions.