The Killing of Sister George (film)
| The Killing of Sister George | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Produced by | Robert Aldrich |
| Written by |
Lukas Heller Frank Marcus (play) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Gerald Fried |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Edited by | Michael Luciano |
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Production
companies |
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| Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing Corporation (1968, original) MGM (2005, DVD) |
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Release date
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Running time
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138 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,550,000 |
| Box office | $5,325,000 |
The Killing of Sister George is a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich based on the 1964 play by Frank Marcus. In the film, an aging lesbian television actress, June "George" Buckridge (Beryl Reid, reprising her role from the stage play), simultaneously faces the loss of her popular television role and the breakdown of her longterm relationship with a younger woman (Susannah York). Although Marcus' play was a black comedy, the film version was marketed as a "shocking drama"; it added explicit lesbian content that was not in the original play, and was presented as a serious treatment of lesbianism.
Middle-aged actress June Buckridge (Reid) plays "Sister George", a lovable motor scooter-riding health care provider and local sage, on the long-running BBC Television soap opera, Applehurst. She has been with the show for years and is so identified with her character that she is nicknamed "George". In reality, June is outspoken, ribald, cigar-smoking and frequently inebriated, unlike her kindly on-screen persona. Although June has been popular with viewers in the past, several Applehurst characters have recently been killed off, causing June to worry that "Sister George" may be next. Her worry affects her already volatile relationship with her live-in lover, a younger, beautiful woman named Alice (York), whom June calls "Childie". Childlike Alice plays with dolls, writes poetry, and has a minor fashion industry job, but relies on June for most of her financial and emotional support. Domineering June is alternately affectionate and abusive towards Alice, and reacts jealously when Alice spends time with other men or women. Alice rebels by talking back to June and refusing to play along with a "contrition" game in which June makes her kneel and eat a cigar butt.
After an Applehurst colleague snarkily jokes about "Sister George" possibly dying on the show, June walks out on a script reading, gets drunk, and forces herself into a taxi alongside two young Catholic nuns, whom she sexually assaults, resulting in the taxi having an accident in a busy intersection. The nuns' Mother Superior and the Archbishop complain to the BBC, causing powerful network producer Mrs. Croft (Coral Browne) to visit June at home and lecture her about her behavior and her attitude at work. When June balks at apologizing for the incident, Mrs. Croft makes clear that her future at the network depends on her apologizing and changing her ways. Mrs. Croft further infuriates June by taking an interest in Alice, complimenting her cooking and encouraging her poetic aspirations. At the next script reading, June finds that her character has been temporarily written out of the show with an illness, seemingly as punishment for June, and raising the possibility that "Sister George" will not recover.
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