The School Girls (1970)

What makes The School Girls unexpectedly fascinating is its time-capsule boldness: it plays like a cheeky, quasi-journalistic snapshot of a society nervously renegotiating what honesty and “decency” mean, and it does so with the curious energy of a film that knows it’s poking a bruise. Ernst Hofbauer mixes staged vignettes with street-interview material and a council-room debate, creating a tone that’s part social inquiry, part sly provocation—less a traditional drama than a conversation you can’t quite walk away from. Beneath the sensational premise, the movie’s real hook is the generational clash, watching authority figures try to legislate behavior while younger voices insist on being heard. It’s not for viewers allergic to exploitation-era frankness or dated attitudes, but if you’re interested in cinema that captures a cultural turning point with audacity and a winking, documentary-like style, it’s a compelling watch.

The School Girls is clearly trying to be a cheeky, semi-educational snapshot of changing sexual attitudes in post-war Germany, mixing a “serious” school-council debate with vignettes and street interviews to make its point. But don’t expect a nuanced drama or a genuinely investigative documentary feel—the mockumentary framing can come off like a thin excuse to string together provocative anecdotes, and the “debate” material often feels more like window dressing than deep character work. If you’re sensitive to films that sexualize teenage characters, or you want modern, responsible treatment of the subject, this is very likely not for you. The main redeeming value is as a time-capsule of its era’s permissiveness and hypocrisy, but it plays more like exploitation dressed up as social commentary than a balanced conversation.