The Greengage Summer

The Greengage Summer (called The Loss of Innocence in the US) is a 1961 British film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More and Susannah York (in her first leading role). It was based on the novel, Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden. Set in Epernay, in the Champagne region of France, it is the story of the transition of a teenage girl into womanhood. More later named it as his favourite film, stating, "She [Susannah York] was just twe... more

The Greengage Summer (called The Loss of Innocence in the US) is a 1961 British film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More and Susannah York (in her first leading role). It was based on the novel, Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden. Set in Epernay, in the Champagne region of France, it is the story of the transition of a teenage girl into womanhood. More later named it as his favourite film, stating, "She [Susannah York] was just twenty-one and an adorable creature...it was one of the happiest films on which I have ever worked." Joss Grey (Susannah York), a sixteen-year-old English girl, finds herself responsible for the care of her three younger siblings on a summer vacation in France when their mother is taken suddenly ill and rushed to the hospital. When they go to the Hotel Oeillets, proprietress Mademoiselle Zisi (Danielle Darrieux) does not want the responsibility of unchaperoned children, but is persuaded to change her mind by her enigmatic English lover Eliot ... less