''Private Lessons'' is a 1981 American

sex comedy Sexual comedy (also known as, sex comedy and erotic comedy) is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sexual comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary wor ...

film starring Sylvia Kristel,

Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...

, Eric Brown, and Ed Begley Jr. The screenplay was written by Dan Greenburg, who wrote the original source novel, ''Philly''. Greenburg appears as the manager of a motel in the film. ''Private Lessons'' was one of Kristel's few major American film appearances; she was better known to European audiences for her '' Emmanuelle'' films which had only limited distribution in the United States. In early 2006, a 25th anniversary DVD release was issued in North America.

Plot

Philip "Philly" Fillmore is an adventurous 15-year-old boy and the son of a rich businessman in Phoenix; when his father leaves town on an extended trip during summer break, the young man is left in the passing care of Nicole Mallow, a French housekeeper, and Lester Lewis, the family's chauffeur. Nicole playfully teases Philly for his constant leering at women. Resenting her initially, Philly later becomes infatuated. When Nicole goes out shopping, he sneaks into her room and touches her underwear. He frequently uses his binoculars to observe her through windows, deliberately walks by her when she is sunbathing beside the pool, and rides his bicycle past her room. One night, after spotting Philly peeping into her room, she tells him to come inside and, to his utter shock, starts undressing in front of him. However, when a fully nude Nicole invites Philly to touch her, it proves too much for him. He panics and leaves, but not before thanking her. He shares the story with his best friend Sherman. Next morning, Nicole invites Philly to visit her at night. After a game of tennis with Sherman, Philly looks for Nicole but does not find her in her room. While searching, he is surprised to find her in his father's bathtub. She requests him to rub her back and then invites him to remove his clothes and join her in the bathtub. At first, Philly objects, but she keeps sweet-talking him until he finally gives in. However, he decides to wear swimming trunks. Once in the bathtub, she starts kissing him. When she tries to take off his swimming trunks, he insists that she turn off the lights first. She agrees, but once she touches him, he again panics and rushes out. She apologizes, passionately kisses him good night, and directly invites him to sleep with her, to no avail. After flirting in a movie theater the following evening, they return home and kiss. Feeling nervous and not knowing what to do in those situations, Philly asks her to marry him. After she reacts without fondness to the notion of being his wife, he backs off and leaves. After a day's hiatus, the two reconcile and decide to go on a romantic date to a French restaurant where their love blossoms. After returning home, they have sex. During intercourse, Nicole pretends to have a heart attack and die. Panicked, Philly asks Lester to help him hide evidence of his relationship with Nicole. Lester knows Nicole is pretending but helps to make Philly believe she really died. The two men bury her in the mansion's garden. The "body" later disappears, and a note orders Philly to steal $10,000 from his father. If he does not do this, the note says, his role in Nicole's "death" will be exposed. In reality, she is an illegal alien, and Lester is using this secret to blackmail her into helping him in his scheme. He was the one who told her to seduce Philly and fake her death during sex. When Nicole has second thoughts, Lester threatens to expose her as a child molester. Having truly fallen in love with Philly, she nonetheless reveals the truth to him. The two convince his tennis coach to pose as a police detective and intimidate Lester with questions about Nicole's disappearance. Lester panics but is caught with the money before he can flee the country. Nicole and Philly return the money to the safe, but 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. As a result, he keeps his job. Nicole fears that Philly's father will eventually discover their affair and decides to leave. Before she does, she and Philly make love one last time. When summer vacation ends, Philly returns to high school and immediately gets a date with Miss Phipps, one of his teachers.

Cast

* Sylvia Kristel as Nicole Mallow *

as Lester Lewis * Eric Brown as Philip "Philly" Fillmore * Patrick Piccininni as Sherman * Ed Begley Jr. as Jack Travis * Pamela Bryant as Joyce * Meridith Baer as Miss Phipps * Ron Foster as Mr. Fillmore * Peter Elbling as Waiter * Dan Barrows as Green * Dan Greenburg as Hotel Owner * Marian Gibson as Florence * Judy Helden as Miss Kristel's Double

Music

Songs featured in the film include: *

Air Supply Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). With record sales of 100 million worldwide, they had a suc ...

: " Lost In Love" *

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

: "Next Time You See Her" * John Cougar: "

I Need a Lover "I Need a Lover" is the debut single by John Mellencamp, first released in 1978 under the stage name "Johnny Cougar". Background The song appeared on his 1978 album ''A Biography'', which was not released in the United States. After becoming a ...

" *

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

: " Hot Legs", " Tonight's The Night" and " You're in My Heart" *

Willie Nile Willie Nile (born Robert Anthony Noonan; June 7, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1980, Nile released his self-titled debut album. His early career was interrupted by various problems, but he eventually returned to recording and perf ...

: "That's the Reason" * Randy VanWarmer: " Just When I Needed You Most" * Earth, Wind and Fire: "

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

" The soundtrack was released in the US by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

and in Europe by WEA Records.

Production details

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 1983's ''

Private School A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

'' (which features a brief appearance by Kristel), and two in-name-only sequels to ''Private Lessons'' in 1993 and 1994. During the bedroom striptease, Judy Helden performed as the body double for Kristel. The film was financed 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 A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating wh ...

on television, of which Barry was the host and Enright the primary producer. The company's announcer at the time, Jay Stewart, provided the narration for one of the movie trailers for the film. The film was also the first picture for Jensen Farley Pictures (a subsidiary of

Sunn Classic Pictures Sunn Classic Pictures, also known as Sunn International Pictures, Schick Sunn Classic Pictures, and Taft International Pictures was an independent U.S.-based film distributor, founded in 1971. The company was notable for family films and document ...

), a movie studio founded by Rayland Jensen (founder of Sunn Classic Pictures) and his fellow employee, Clair Farley. Sunn, initially a subsidiary of the Schick razor company, would be sold to

Taft Broadcasting Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was rooted in the Taft family, family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President ...

in 1980, shortly before this film's release. Jensen Farley Pictures was created after the sale to Taft, and one of the company's early releases was a film produced by Taft, '' The Boogens'', initially planned for release through Sunn. Jensen Farley would later release another sex comedy whose selling point was the promise of a young man coupled with an alluring older woman, ''

Homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed at home. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, Exercise (mathematics), math problems to be completed, informatio ...

'' with

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

. Director

Alan Myerson Alan Myerson (born July 1, 1940) is an American film and television director known for such projects as '' Private Lessons''. Career Myerson began working in theatre in New York City, then directing The Second City in Chicago. He co-founded the ...

and the cinematographer he hired,

Jan de Bont Jan de Bont (; born 22 October 1943) is a Dutch former cinematographer, film director, and film producer. He is best known for directing the action films ''Speed (1994 film), Speed'' (1994) and ''Twister (1996 film), Twister'' (1996). As a direct ...

, shot their principal photography for the film in Arizona and New Mexico over the course of 6 weeks during the summer of 1980. In 1985, the film was made in Italian as ''Il peccato di Lola'' (''Lola's Sin'') starring Donatella Damiani.

References

External links