Olivia

Olivia is a 1951 French drama set in 1890 at a girls' boarding school near Paris. An English teenager, Olivia, is sent there for a year and becomes infatuated with Mademoiselle Julie, a teacher who fascinates the pupils. As Olivia watches Julie closely, she also takes in the troubled relationship between Julie and Mademoiselle Cara, another figure at the school, which is reaching a difficult point. The film follows the girl's growing feelings and what she observes around her, without resolving everything for the viewer.

Jacqueline Audry directed, working from a screenplay by Colette Audry and Pierre Laroche. It was the first of the two films she directed according to the records here, ahead of La Garçonne in 1957. Edwige Feuillère plays Mademoiselle Julie and Simone Simon plays Mademoiselle Cara, with Marie-Claire Olivia as Olivia Dealey, alongside Yvonne de Bray, Suzanne Dehelly and Marina de Berg among a credited cast of 35. The production was French, from Filmsonor, Les Films de la Pléiade and Memnon Films, and it runs 96 minutes.

Audience response has been steady rather than enthusiastic over the decades: on IMDb it sits at 6.9 from 974 votes, while on TMDB it holds 6.6 from a much smaller 44 votes. The two averages are close, suggesting viewers who seek the film out generally find it worthwhile.