Private Lessons is the title of an American comedy film released in 1980. The film starred Sylvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman, Eric Brown, and Ed Begley, Jr..
Released in 1980, Private Lessons was highly controversial at the time of its release, and it remained controversial in more modern times, for its plot line, which involves a sexual relationship between a boy in his teens and the 30-something Nicole, that culminates in the two having sex. It was one of Kristel's few major American film appearances; she was best known for her Emmanuelle films in Europe. The movie has gone on to achieve cult film status and in early 2006, a 25th anniversary DVD release was issued in North America.
The synopsis
Even though Dan Greenburg, who wrote the source novel, Philly, dramatized it for the screen, and even appeared as the manager of a fleabag motel in the film, was American, the plot of the film was rooted in European bedroom farce, with a teenage fantasy twist during summer vacation.
In the film, Eric Brown plays Philip Fillmore, nicknamed "Philly," the 15-year-old son of a rich businessman who has left town on an extended trip, leaving the young man to his own devices. Sylvia Kristel's character, Nicole Mallow, is a sexy French housekeeper with whom Brown's character becomes infatuated.
When the housekeeper spots Philly peeping on her room, she tells him to close her door. To Philly's utter shock, she means for him to close her door from the inside and then watch her undress. However, it is too much for him when a topless Nicole asks him to touch her breasts. When he objects, she steps back and instead takes off her underwear. Philly panics and leaves.
Later on, he is surprised to find her in his father's bathtub. Once again to his amazement, she asks him to join her in. He objects, but she keeps sweet-talking him until he finally gives in. However, he decides to wear boxer shorts. Once in the bathtub, she spoons and kisses him from behind. When she tries to take off his boxers from behind, he conditions it with turning off the lights. But once she reaches for his private area, he again panics and rushes out. She follows him to apologize, kisses him and directly invites him to sleep with her, the sexual element of which he fails to comprehend at first. After they flirt in a movie theater the following day, he gives in but backs down when she reacts without fondness to the notion of marrying him. One day later, she tells him she guesses they can at least date for a while. After they flirt during their first date in a restaurant, they come back home and finally do sleep with each other.
At this point, the plot thickens. Unbeknownst to Philly, Nicole and his father's crooked chauffeur, Lester Lewis, played by Howard Hesseman, are in fact co-conspirators in a blackmail plot involving Philly's housekeeper, who is an illegal alien. (Her permission to stay in the United States either has expired or was never obtained in the first place; the film does not specify which.) The plot is for her to seduce him into sleeping with her and then fake her own death during their intercourse. His chauffeur then "helps" the panicked kid secretly bury her. One day later her body disappears and a mysterious note orders Philly to steal $10,000 from his father's safe and pay up to keep the secret. Nicole has second thoughts, but Lester reminds her that he can expose her to the police as both an illegal immigrant and a child molester. Alas for Lester, Nicole has truly fallen in love with Philly, and so she comes back to tell him the truth. Philly convinces his tennis coach (Ed Begley, Jr.) to pose as a police detective, who then intimidates Lester with questions about Nicole’s whereabouts. Eventually Lester is caught with the money before he can fly out of the country. Nicole and Philly return the money to the safe, but they decide not to expose Lester's treachery. In turn, he reluctantly decides not to expose Nicole's illegal-alien status or her acts of child molestation, and as a result, he keeps his job.
As for Nicole's job, she feels Philly's father is bound to discover their affair eventually and decides to leave. But before she does, she finally completes her interrupted intercourse with Philly. The movie ends as Philly returns to high school, thanks his teacher for advising him to find girls whose age is more appropriate for him, and successfully asks her out for dinner, to which his chauffeur will drive them.
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 another cult favorite, 1983's Private School (which features Sylvia Kristel in a bit role), and two in-name-only sequels to Private Lessons in 1993 and 1994.
The film was sponsored 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 on television, of which Barry was the on-camera host and Enright the primary behind-the-scenes producer. The company's primary announcer at the time, Jay Stewart, provided the narration for the commercials and the movie trailers for the film.
Director Alan Myerson and the cinematographer he hired, Jan de Bont, shot their principal photography for the film in Arizona and New Mexico.
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