St Trinian's (film)

St Trinian's is a 2007 British comedy film and the sixth in a long-running series of British films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle set in St Trinian's School. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St. Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and a reboot in 1980. The release of 2007, 27 years after the last entry, and 53 years after the first film, is a rebooting of the franchise, rather than a direct sequel, with certain plot elements borrowed from the first film.

St Trinian's
Theatrical release poster
Directed byOliver Parker
Barnaby Thompson
Produced byOliver Parker
Barnaby Thompson
Screenplay byPiers Ashworth
Nick Moorcroft
Based onSt. Trinian's School
by Ronald Searle
Starring
Music byCharlie Mole
CinematographyGavin Finney
Edited byAlex Mackie
Production
company
Distributed byEntertainment Film Distributors
Release date
  • 21 December 2007 (2007-12-21)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£7 million
Box office$29.1 million

Whereas the earlier films concentrated on the adults, this film gives the school pupils greater prominence. St Trinian's is an anarchic school for uncontrollable girls run by eccentric headmistress Camilla Dagey Fritton (the reboot continues the tradition, established by Alastair Sim in the original film, of casting a male actor to play the female headmistress, with Rupert Everett inheriting the role).

St Trinian's received mixed reviews but remains one of the highest-grossing British independent films of the last thirty years.

Plot

Annabelle Fritton, an uptight daddy’s girl, unwillingly transfers to St Trinian's from the distinguished Cheltenham Ladies’ College at the request of her father, Carnaby Fritton. Annabelle is clearly different and doesn’t fit in, telling her father that the school is "like Hogwarts for pikeys". She is taken around the school by Kelly Jones, the head girl, who introduces her to the various cliques within the school.

On her first night, Annabelle is pranked by the girls, resulting in her being poured in slime and pillow feathers, the temperature of her shower water be tampered with, and a video of her running around the school naked and wet being broadcast live on the internet leading to her getting knocked unconscious after slipping on wet floor and slides into the doors. She calls her father to pick her up, but Carnaby pretends to have bad phone reception so he can stay at a bar. Annabelle is drafted to the hockey team when she hits her phone with her hockey stick, smashing a statue. The girls of St Trinian's are involved in business with spiv Flash Harry, who pays them to make cheap vodka. Flash is shown to be romantically interested in Kelly, who initially turns him down.

The Cheltenham Ladies' College hockey team arrive at St Trinian's, along with Education Minister Geoffrey Thwaites. Thwaites is shown to have romantic history with the headmistress of St Trinian's, Camilla Fritton. Annabelle is forced to face her former bullies, including captain Verity Thwaites. The hockey match is violent, ending in Kelly shooting a winning goal for St Trinian's, which is followed by a brawl between the two schools. As the match is being played, Thwaites inspects the school, finding the illegal vodka-making business and the chatline being run by the Posh Totty clique.

The following morning, a banker arrives at the school and serves Camilla with a foreclosure notice, as the school owes the bank in excess of £500,000 and has ignored six previous final demands. A subsequent meeting between Camilla and Carnaby is watched by the girls using hidden cameras, in which Carnaby confesses his distaste towards his daughter. Annabelle is clearly upset, despite Camilla defending her. Carnaby encourages Camilla to turn the school into a boutique hotel, telling her that "when this school closes down, you'll have lost everything. More importantly, so will I."

Kelly and Flash work with the students to devise a plan to save the school. They must get into the final of School Challenge, a TV quiz show held in the National Gallery in London, as a cover for stealing Vermeer’s "Girl With a Pearl Earring". Chelsea, Peaches and Chloe (the Posh Totty clique) are chosen as the School Challenge Team. By cheating in every round, they make it to the grand final. As the final is being filmed, Kelly, Taylor and Andrea manage to steal the painting, with help from the Geeks, as well as Annabelle and Camilla.

Camilla paints an exact copy of the painting and has Flash, posing as a German art dealer, sell it to Carnaby in a black market deal. The school then receives a further £50,000 reward for returning the real painting to the National Gallery. The loans are able to be repaid and the school is saved.

Cast and characters

The members of Girls Aloud (Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding, Nadine Coyle and Cheryl) all make cameo appearances as the members of St Trinian's school band in the film. Zöe Salmon also makes a cameo as an emo girl, while Nathaniel Parker, the director's real life brother, makes a short appearance as the Chairman of the National Gallery. Newscaster Jeremy Thompson also briefly appears, as himself.

Music

The film’s score was composed by Charlie Mole.

Soundtrack
St. Trinian's
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released10 December 2007 (2007-12-10)
GenrePop, Dance-pop
LabelUniversal Music Group
St. Trinian's original soundtrack chronology
St. Trinian's
(2007)		 St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
(2009)
Singles from St. Trinian's: The Soundtrack
  1. "Theme to St. Trinian's"
    Released: 10 December 2007
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
BBC Music(negative)[1]
Digital Spy(positive)[2]
InTheNews.co.uk(3/10)[3]

The film's soundtrack was released on 10 December 2007 via Universal Music Group.[4][5] The album featured two original songs by British pop group Girls Aloud, including the single, "Theme to St. Trinian's". A music video for the song was released to promote the film and soundtrack.[6]

The film's cast also recorded the theme, as well as a cover of Shampoo's "Trouble". A music video of the cast performing "Trouble" was also released.[7] Rupert Everett and Colin Firth, who star in the film, recorded the John Paul Young song "Love Is in the Air". A number of popular singles or current album tracks by artists, such as Mark Ronson, Lily Allen, Noisettes, Gabriella Cilmi, and Sugababes, were included on the soundtrack.

Track listing
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Theme to St. Trinian's"Girls Aloud4:29
2."Trouble" (Shampoo cover)Cast of St Trinian's3:33
3."Oh My God"Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen3:40
4."Love Is in the Air"Rupert Everett and Colin Firth3:50
5."Don't Give Up"Noisettes2:31
6."Nine2Five"The Ordinary Boys vs. Lady Sovereign3:04
7."If I Can't Dance"Sophie Ellis-Bextor3:24
8."Teenage Kicks"Remi Nicole2:27
9."Sanctuary"Gabriella Cilmi3:29
10."Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing"The Four Aces2:59
11."3 Spoons of Suga"Sugababes3:51
12."On My Way to Satisfaction"Girls Aloud4:06
13."The St Trinian's School Song"Cast of St Trinian's3:47

Filming locations
  • Park Place, Remenham, Berkshire, England (St Trinian's school)
  • Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England
  • London, England
  • Oxfordshire, England
  • The National Gallery, London, England, (exteriors, The National Gallery)
  • Trafalgar Square, St James's, London, England

Release

St Trinian's premiered in London on 10 December 2007 and was theatrically released on 21 December 2007 by Entertainment Film Distributors.

Home media

St Trinian's was released on DVD on 14 April 2008 by Entertainment in Video.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed £12,042,854 in the United Kingdom,[8] surpassing its £7 million production budget. As of 18 July 2010 the film had grossed a worldwide total of $29,066,483.[9] It was the fifth highest-grossing film during the Christmas season of 2007, behind Enchanted, I Am Legend, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and The Golden Compass. It ranks in the top grossing independent British films of the past decade.[10]

Critical response
Rupert Everett was praised by critics for his performance.

St Trinian's received mixed reviews. Empire wrote that the film "fuse[s] an understanding of what made the originals great with a modern feel – the writers have fulfilled their end of the bargain, even tweaking some of the weaker points of the original story."[11]

The Observer wrote that it "is raucous, leering, crude and, to my mind, largely misjudged, with Rupert Everett playing Miss Fritton as a coquettish transvestite with the manners of a Mayfair madam. The attempts to shock us fail, though Cheltenham Ladies College may well be affronted to hear one of its teachers say 'between you and I'. But the preview was packed with girls aged from seven to 14 who found it hilarious, and especially enjoyed Russell Brand."[12]

Derek Malcolm, in The Evening Standard, wrote: "Structurally, the new movie is a mess, and it doesn't look too convincing either, with cinematography that uses all sorts of old-fashioned dodges to raise a laugh", and "when you look at it again, the old film was not only superior but rather more radical. This St Trinian's looks as if it is aiming at the lowest common denominator, and finding it too often."[13]

On the film-critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, St Trinian's holds a 31% positive rating, with the consensus "Both naughtier and campier than Ronald Searle's original postwar series, this St. Trinian's leans on high jinks instead of performances or witty dialogue."[14]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2007 Empire Award and National Movie Award Best Comedy St Trinian's Nominated
Best Performance – Male Colin Firth Nominated
Best Performance – Male Rupert Everett Nominated
Best Performance – Female and Best Newcomer Gemma Arterton Nominated

Sequel
Main article: St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

It was announced at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that the sequel, The Legend of Fritton's Gold, also directed by Parker and Thompson, would be released in 2009.[15] Filming began on 6 July 2009,[16] and on 7 July 2009, it was announced that David Tennant, Sarah Harding and Montserrat Lombard had all signed on to appear in the sequel.[17]

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References
  1. BBC Music review
  2. Digital Spy review
  3. InTheNews.co.uk review Archived December 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "St Trinians: Original Soundtrack". Play.com. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  5. "St. Trinians [Soundtrack]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  6. "Pay Attention Class". Office Blog. Fascination Records. 26 November 2007. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  7. Uh Oh Cast of St. Trinian's - "We're in Trouble". YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  8. UK Box office
  9. St Trinian total box office
  10. World Box Office Reports – Movie Ratings. Allcharts.org. Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
  11. Sam Toy, Empire Magazine, Empire: Film Reviews, Movie News and Interviews. Empiremagazine.com. Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
  12. Philip French, The Observer, December 23, 2007.
  13. December 20, 2007
  14. St Trinian's at Rotten Tomatoes
  15. Trinian's girls to return in 2009
  16. Ealing Studios. Ealing Studios. Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
  17. Tennant enrolls at 'St Trinian's II' – Entertainment News, Film News, Media. Variety (July 7, 2009). Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
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