Jun

10

Long Last Looks: A Shift in Women

Filed Under Vogue Rogue 

Suzy Kendall School Dance To Sir With Love

To Sir With Love is one of my all-time favourite movies. I love the colour and texture of the film; the relationships among the characters, but more so the ones that are open-ended and undefined (more on this later); and the range of emotion the story packs in without being trite or uncharacteristic.

Sidney Poitier makes the film. He is amazing as Mark Thackeray, or “Sir.” As a teacher to some of the troubled youth from the slums of East London, Poitier’s character provides incredible honesty in depicting the complex layers of his role with subtlety and natural finesse, I have yet to witness anyone else on celluloid possesses like him.

“Sir,” like any great teacher, is a mentor, a parent, an adviser and a friend, but one with authority, who commands a certain amount of respect. His demonstration of care among his students wins them over and engages the interest of his colleagues, in particular, teacher Gillian Blanchard, played by Suzy Kendall.

Kendall’s part in the movie is small. She’s not Poitier’s love interest, but there is some suggested chemistry between them that the story never explores. (Hats off to Hollywood again, for the un-Hollywood ending.)

She does however have the best outfits in the whole film; fitted blouses with piqued shoulders, dresses with high neck ruffles, and my personal favourite, the one depicted in the picture above, a shift dress with sheer sleeves and silver-sequin details on collar and sleeves. It’s like Judy Jetson meets Jackie O. There’s something modern and classic about it, yet in keeping with the youthful spirit of the school’s last dance (scene in the film where this pic is taken from), but just a tad cocktail-y, contributing to the grown-up factor of the ensemble.

The subtlety of the outfit, like with Poitier’s character, is key. It marks the very diminutive differences between Kendall and Judy Geeson’s (as Pamela Dare) characters in the film.

Kendall is what Geeson can become with Poitier’s guidance and tutelage. Two women, not as rivals (which the movie, in one scene on a bus trip from the museum suggests), but mirroring each other’s qualities in a similar way but with different focus; Geeson as the adult youth, and Kendall as the youthful adult.

In fact, to me, there are instances in the film where Geeson displays a little more acumen than Kendall, and looks like she might be charming “Sir.” Truly though, there is no contest. Geeson might have the last dance with her beloved teacher, but her crochet dress and pig-tail hairdo only add to the exuberance of being a grown-up child. Where Kendall, in all her sheer-navy-shift-and-strategic-silver glory, will always be the woman. Yes, sir.

 

 

Comments

2 Responses to “Long Last Looks: A Shift in Women”

  1. Pazit on June 12th, 2008 11:07 pm

    Interesting. But I’m not sure if Hollywood can really be congratulated on this one - they would not have paired a black man and a white woman romantically on film. Haven’t done any research though, so I don’t know if it applies in this case.

  2. admin on June 12th, 2008 11:28 pm

    You know, with all the relationships working in this film, I never once thought about the race and love equation. I think I always understood the students’ appreciation for their teacher as their way of accepting him, and in turn, others accepting him too. (But for the time, obviously not the case, and incredibly controversial!)

    I guess my ignorance was eclipsed by the potential everyone realizes in “Sir.” I’ve been guilty of dating potential, rather than a person. So, this idea, definitely fed into my short-sighted view.

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