There’s a Girl in My Soup (1970) - film review

Robert Danvers is a renowned food and wine critic who considers himself a latter-day Casanova.  No woman can resist his charms, or so he thinks.  One evening, Danvers meets Marion, a stunning 19-year-old hippie who immediately lights his candle.  Having fallen out with her drummer boyfriend, Marion offers no resistance when Danvers invites her back to his swanky apartment for an evening’s amusement.  However, the gourmet womaniser finds it hard to break down her reserve and he cannot bring himself to bed her, even when she is in his power.  The next day, Marion repays Danvers for not forcing himself on her by moving in with him.  Is it possible that the eternal bachelor has finally met his match..?

This film adaptation of Terence Frisby’s long-running West End play of the same name received mixed reviews when it was first released but has since acquired something of a cult status, mainly on the strength of Peter Sellers’ hilarious turn as a vain middle-aged Lothario trying hopelessly to keep up with the times and with a lover half his age.   As co-star Goldie Hawn isn’t called upon to do much more than look pretty, Sellers is practically running a one-man show,  although he appears undaunted by the challenge and manages to extract as much humour as he can from a pretty mundane script.

Whilst this is by no means Sellers’s best work, There’s a Girl in My Soup still has great charm and delivers a fair number of laughs, entertaining with its vivid and deliciously ironic portrayal of the permissive society circa 1970.  The kitsch early seventies use of montage and contemporary music, not to mention the groovy opening titles, make this an enjoyably colourful record of a more carefree era, and a wonderful nostalgia piece for those who were fortunate to be around at the time.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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