St Trinian's (2007 film)

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St Trinian's School Can Be A Riot
Directed by	Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson
Produced by	Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson
Written by	Piers Ashworth Nick Moorcroft Ronald Searle (cartoons)
Starring	Rupert Everett Colin Firth Talulah Riley Lena Headey Jodie Whittaker
Music by	Charlie Mole
Cinematography	Gavin Finney
Editing by	Alex Mackie
Distributed by	Ealing Studios Fragile Films
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$13.5 million
Preceded by	The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980)
IMDb profile

St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first four films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966. The 1980 The Wildcats of St Trinian's was not a critical success. The books are actually based on St Trinnean's School for Girls, Edinburgh. Ronald Searle stayed with the parents of a schoolgirl Cecily Johnston during the war and when told about the goings on decided to draw the cartoons. The school was closed shortly after the war and is now St Leonards House in Pollock Halls, student residences for Edinburgh University.

[edit] Plot

St Trinian's is an anarchic school for uncontrollable girls who save the school from bankruptcy by stealing the painting 'Girl With A Pearl Earring'. The film starts with meek and timid Annabelle Fritton being admitted to the school. She meets Kelly, head girl, who shows her around the school and introduces the various cliques in the school - Posh Tottys, Chavs, Emos, Geeks and First Years. Annabelle has a rough first night in the school when her towel and dressing gown are taken from the shower and she is broadcast on the internet by the other girls while running naked from the shower to the dormitory. She phones her father and demands to be taken away from the school.

Flash Harry pays a visit to the school and makes a deal with the girls for some lab-made vodka. The last batch had side effects including blindness, paralysis, and death, all symptoms of methanol poisoning, indicating lack of care in distillation of the liquor.

A few days later the school has a hockey match against Annabelle's old school - their rivals Cheltenham Ladies' College. The Cheltenham captain is Verity Thwaites, daughter of the education minister. The girls give a hostile and violent welcome to their visitors and the match ends in a brawl between the two schools. Later, Annabelle overhears her father telling her aunt that he doesn't think Annabelle fits in with the family, which hurts her feelings. Later that day, her aunt makes her feel a part of the family and gets her to release her anger. The other girls at the school give Annabelle a make-over and make her feel part of the school. Meanwhile the education minister is inspecting the school and the bank is threatening it with closure.

Kelly hears the talk about closure and tells the rest of the school. They then concoct a plan to save the school by getting to the final of "School Challenge" and stealing the painting 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. Meanwhile Annabelle tries to persuade Flash Harry to act as a gay German art dealer. He initially refuses but Kelly gets him to do the job (as he secretly has feelings for her and does not want to look stupid in front of her). The school team for School Challenge is made up of the three of the Posh Tottys, Chelsea, Peaches and Chloe. They get to the final by cheating.

During the final Kelly, Taylor and Andrea foil the security for the painting that they're after and eventually retrieve it but on the way back the cable that they used to climb over the top of the audience of the final of School Challenge snaps just after Taylor and Andrea get over to the other side. Kelly gets stuck with no way to get to other side again. Mrs Fritton sees that Kelly needs help and goes to save the day, having to knock out education minister Geoffrey Thwaites on the way. Meanwhile Annabelle takes care of Verity.

The school successfully gets the painting and sells it to Carnaby Fritton who doesn't realise it is not the real one which has been returned under the cover of St Trinians finding it. They receive a £50,000 reward for returning the painting and with the cash from Carnaby Fritton they pay back the money owed to the bank and St Trinian's stays in business. The final scene concludes with a sexual romp between Colin Firth and Rupert Everett.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Release and reception

St Trinian's was released in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2007, in Australia on March 27, 2008, and in New Zealand on April 17, 2008. Other European releases are planned for Belgium on July 9, 2008, and Germany on August 7, 2008.^[1][2]

Mixed reviews resulted in a 47% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 7 fresh and 8 rotten. By the end of its run the film had grossed £12,042,854 in the UK ^[3], surpassing it's £7 million production budget. In Australia the film opened at #5 and has so far grossed £1.1 million after four weeks. ^[4].

It was announced at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that a sequel, St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, also directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, will be released in 2009.^[5]

[edit] Merchandise

A book based on the film, adapted by Pippa Le Quesne from Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft's screenplay was published in late 2007 by Penguin books, ISBN 978-0-141-32417-3. The accompanying soundtrack was released on December 10, 2007, along with a music video for the theme song performed by Girls Aloud, who make a cameo appearance in the film. St Trinian's was released on region 2 DVD in the UK on April 14, 2008. It is also available on Blu-ray.

[edit] Cultural references

St Trinian's makes several references to past films of Colin Firth. Camilla Fritton's dog is named after Firth's starring role as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Geoffrey's toss into a fountain and emerging in a soaking wet shirt refers back to a popular scene in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which starred Firth as Mark Darcy and was itself inspired by Pride and Prejudice.^[6] The answer to the quiz question, "What is the name of the book 'First Impressions' more famously known as?", is Pride and Prejudice. In their first meeting, Geoffrey and Miss Fritton mention that they knew each other in "Another Country", the title of a 1984 film starring Firth and Rupert Everett. When the girls first see the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring in the National Gallery, they refer to the film of that name in which Firth played the painter Johannes Vermeer.

Other references in St Trinian's are the twins Tara & Tania accidentally blowing up the shed and saying "you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off", a direct reference to the 1960's heist movie The Italian Job. When the Minister suggests St. Trinian's be the first school to be addressed under his new regime, a bureaucrat says "be afraid, be very afraid", a direct quote from the 1980's movie The Fly. The picture in Miss Fritton's study is a painting of Alastair Sim, who played Millicent Fritton, the headmistress in the original films.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• St Trinian's at the Internet Movie Database
• St Trinian's at Rotten Tomatoes