| Private Lessons | |
|---|---|
Private Lessons theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Alan Myerson |
| Produced by | R. Ben Efraim |
| Written by | Dan Greenburg |
| Starring | Sylvia Kristel Howard Hesseman Eric Brown Ed Begley, Jr. Pamela Jean Bryant Meridith Baer Peter Elbling |
| Music by | Willie Nile |
| Cinematography | Jan de Bont |
| Editing by | Fred A. Chulack |
| Distributed by | Citadel Films Jenson Farley Pictures Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 26, 1981 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,800,000 (estimated) |
Private Lessons is the title of an American comedy film released in 1980. The film starred Sylvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman, Eric Brown, and Ed Begley, Jr.[1]
The screenplay was written by Dan Greenburg, who wrote the original source novel, Philly. Greenburg appears as the manager of a fleabag motel in the film.
Released in 1981, Private Lessons was highly controversial from the time of its release, for its plot line of a sexual relationship between a boy in his early teens and his 30-something housekeeper. It was one of Kristel's few major American film appearances; she was best known for her Emmanuelle films in Europe. In early 2006, a 25th anniversary DVD release was issued in North America.
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Philip "Philly" Fillmore (Eric Brown) is the 15-year-old son of a rich businessman who has left town on an extended summer trip, leaving the young man in the passing care of Nicole Mallow (Sylvia Kristel), a sexy French housekeeper, and Lester Lewis (Howard Hesseman), the family's chauffeur.
Philly becomes infatuated with Nicole. When she spots him peeping into her room, she tells him to close her door. To Philly's utter shock, she means for him to close her door from the inside and then watch her undress. However, it is too much for him when a topless Nicole asks him to touch her breasts. When he objects, she steps back and instead takes off her underwear. Philly panics and leaves.
Later on, he is surprised to find her in his father's bathtub. Once again to his amazement, she asks him to join her in. He objects, but she keeps sweet-talking him until he finally gives in. However, he decides to wear boxer shorts. Once in the bathtub, she spoons and kisses him from behind. When she tries to take off his boxers from behind, he conditions it with turning off the lights. But once she reaches for his private area, he again panics and rushes out. She follows him to apologize, kisses him and directly invites him to sleep with her, the sexual element of which he fails to comprehend at first. After they flirt in a movie theater the following day, he gives in but backs down when she reacts without fondness to the notion of marrying him. One day later, she tells him she guesses they can at least date for a while. After they flirt during their first date in a restaurant, they come back home and finally do sleep with each other.
At this point, the plot thickens. We learn that Nicole is an illegal alien (the film does not specify the circumstances), and she has been blackmailed by the crooked chauffeur, Lester, to help in a larger blackmail plan against Philly. The plot is for Nicole to seduce Philly into sleeping with her and then fake her own death during their intercourse. Lester then "helps" the panicked Philly to secretly bury Nicole. One day later her body disappears and a mysterious note orders Philly to steal $10,000 from his father's safe and pay up to keep the secret.
Nicole has second thoughts, but Lester reminds her that he can expose her to the police as both an illegal alien and a child molester. Nicole has truly fallen in love with Philly, and so she comes back to tell him the truth. Philly convinces his tennis coach (Ed Begley, Jr.) to pose as a police detective, who then intimidates Lester with questions about Nicole’s whereabouts. Eventually Lester is caught with the money before he can fly out of the country. Nicole and Philly return the money to the safe, but they decide not to expose Lester's treachery. In turn, he reluctantly decides not to expose Nicole's illegal alien status nor her acts of child molestation, and as a result, he keeps his job.
As for Nicole's job, she feels Philly's father is bound to discover their affair eventually and decides to leave. But before she does, she finally completes her interrupted intercourse with Philly. The movie ends as Philly returns to high school, thanks his teacher for advising him to find girls whose age is more appropriate for him, and successfully asks her out for dinner, to which his chauffeur will drive them. Then, Philly smiled with excitement, and the film freeze framed.
Famous artists included:
Dan Greenburg wrote the film's screenplay, which he adapted from his own 1969 novel Philly. Producer R. Ben Efraim would produce a number of additional Private... movies over the next decade, including another cult favorite, 1983's Private School (which features Sylvia Kristel in a bit role), and two in-name-only sequels to Private Lessons in 1993 and 1994.
During the bedroom striptease, Judy Helden body-doubled for Sylvia Kristel.
The film was sponsored primarily by Jack Barry & Dan Enright Productions, even though its two chief producers, Jack Barry and Dan Enright, were better known for their game shows on television, of which Barry was the on-camera host and Enright the primary behind-the-scenes producer. The company's primary announcer at the time, Jay Stewart, provided the narration for the commercials and the movie trailers for the film.
The film was also the first picture for Jensen Farley Pictures, a movie studio founded by Rayland Jensen (founder of Sunn Classic Pictures) and his fellow employee, Clair Farley.[2] Sunn and Jensen Farley, both subsidiaries of the Schick razor company, would be sold to Taft Broadcasting in 1980, shortly before this film's release.[3]
Director Alan Myerson and the cinematographer he hired, Jan de Bont, shot their principal photography for the film in Arizona and New Mexico.
In 1985, the film was made in Italian as Il peccato di Lola, starring Donatella Damiani.