Gregory's Girl (1981)
Directed by Bill Forsyth

Film Review

With the British film industry in a state of terminal decline in the early 1980s, there was general feeling of amazement and jubilation whenever a film came along which seemed to prove the contrary.  Bill Forsyth's second feature, Gregory's Girl, was one such film.  An honest and witty coming of age comedy-drama, which somehow manages to avoid all the clichés and pitfalls to which this genre is particularly prone, this is a film that has remained as fresh and true since the day it was first seen.  It rightly deserves its reputation as one of the greats of British cinema, a major achievement when you consider that it was originally intended only for screening on television in the UK and was made on a paltry budget of £200,000. 

The film combines the social realist technique - naturalistic performances from inexperienced actors and use of real locations - with a quirky, almost surreal kind of humour that appears to have been entirely improvised by the inmates of a lunatic asylum.  Some of the situations and dialogue exchanges would not be entirely out of place in a Monty Python sketch (the wandering penguin certainly wouldn't), but the urban setting and the documentary-style presentation anchor the film solidly in a reality that we can all recognise and relate to.

The keen-edged comedy, which is beautifully underplayed by all of the cast members, does not detract from the film's emotional heart and the film is as poignant as it is funny, without the slightest whiff of sentimentality.  Every character we meet in this film is believable and sympathetically played as a real person, not the daft glue-sniffing stereotypes that we find too often in contemporary drama.  As the gawky teenager suffering from a severe case of hormonal imbalance, John Gordon Sinclair is so convincing that you would swear he isn't acting at all but is genuinely going through a mid-youth crisis.  Maybe he is.

Given this auspicious debut, it is surprising that Bill Forsyth did not go on to make a name for himself as great auteur (the Eric Rohmer of British cinema) but instead yielded to the lure of Hollywood and the mediocrity which that entailed.  You only have to compare Gregory's Girl with its bland and inconsequential 1999 sequel Gregory's Two Girls (directed by Forsyth and with John Gordon Sinclair reprising his role) to see what a uniquely wonderful film it is.

Film Synopsis

Gregory is a typical teenage boy at a Scottish comprehensive school.  His main interest in life is football and so he is understandably perturbed when his coach, Phil Menzies, tells him that he intends to make some radical changes to the school team.  At the soccar trials, Menzies is surprised when a girl named Dorothy turns up, determined to prove she is at least the equal of any man.  Sure enough, Dorothy manages to outshine all of her male competitors and, despite his initial reservations, Menzies offers her a place on the team, demoting Gregory to goalkeeper.  Gregory is far from upset at this outcome: within minutes of clapping eyes on Dorothy he knows that he is in love with her, just like in the movies.  But he is too shy to approach her and let her know what he feels.  Then, after a practice session one lunch hour, he finally bottles up the courage to ask her out for a date.  To his surprise, she says yes.  Has Gregory really got his girl..?