FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Bill Forsyth - Gregory's Girl 

Somewhere I read this in the newspaper and it sounds plausible: a study that says that physically good-looking men are less good at business. They earn less money, marry less "desirable" partners earlier than men with average looks. What conclusion can be drawn? Do the handsome men try less at school because they invest more time in social contacts? Do they rely too much on their charm than on pushing ahead at university? And do they end up marrying women who look more married than career-oriented? Bottom line: the acne-ridden youngster, the geek, does better in the long run than the super-athlete. That's what Bill Forsyth's charming comedy is about. It's an almost forgettable, very funny film about a weird guy. Gregory's Girl is set in Scotland and at least some customers of our video store claim that teenagers in Scotland are calmer and more relaxed. At least than here in Berlin. Gregory (Gordon John Sinclair) is one such guy. A lanky boy who runs around the football pitch in a completely uncoordinated way and suddenly shoots. Totally out of context. He looks like a bird. Then he loses his place on the football team. Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), of all people, replaces him, because she is much more athletic. And Gregory? He falls in love with her at first sight. For those who remember their own school days, Gregory experiences romance in much the same way as a physical illness. Dorothy is sweet to him, but also remains distant. She suspects how much he is in love with her. She is simply far ahead of him in analysing the whole situation and knows how to behave. All this takes place in a suburb of Glasgow. There, where the kids hang around bored and discuss endlessly. They speculate about the impossibility of being happy at seventeen. So Gregory turns to his young sister. She has no interest in boys at all, although Gregory compliments her that although she is only ten, she already looks thirteen. Gregory also comforts his best friend. He is fifteen and a half and has never experienced true love.... Anyone who watches Gregory's Girl notices how much we tend to forget all those things from adolescence. We remember how pointless it is to explain to teenagers what mistakes they make. What for?? After all, every teenager has analysed every single little mistake down to the last detail. Boys in particular are hopelessly overwhelmed in the turmoil of first romance. Lost. Girls, at least, still reserve their own perspective. They react more pragmatically. For it is an unwritten law of the universe that no seventeen-year-old ever immediately falls in love with the "right one". Forsyth's comedy pokes gentle fun at such insights. The film contains much wisdom about what it's like to be young and vulnerable. And it's no great help when, in a situation like Gregory's, you realise that you're not only going through extraordinary agony but, moreover, that you're not even unique. I would give Gregory's Girl a 35+ release. This is a film for adults only. The kind of people who have successfully lived through their first agonies of love. Those who have successfully overcome the pain of unrequited love (hohoho).