Olivia

1951, France, 96m, DCP

Showtimes & Tickets

Screened August 16–22, 2019

Before Carol, there was Olivia. Seventy years later, Jacqueline Audry’s romantic period piece remains a landmark of lesbian representation long overdue for rediscovery. Set in a 19th century French finishing school, new English boarder Olivia (Marie-Claire Olivia) quickly finds herself hot for her teacher—the migraine-prone Mademoiselle Clara (Cat People’s Simone Simon)—and her headmistress, Mademoiselle Julie (BAFTA-nominated Edwige Feuillere). Lace and repressed lust abound as affections and attachments fly and the students’ greatest lessons prove to be those of love and attraction. 

In French with English subtitles.

An Icarus Films / Distrib Films US release. 

A film by Jacqueline Audry

A compound of velvet innuendos—polite, discreet and finely wrought.”

The New York Times

Olivia belongs in discussions with Death in VeniceMaurice, and Carol in great film adaptations of queer literature.”

Hyperallergic