Film Review: Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School (Sechs Schwedinnen im Pensionat, 1979)
Cinema has long been a double-edged sword, capable of both challenging and reinforcing societal norms. By the mid-20th century, Swedish films such as One Summer of Happiness (1951) and I Am Curious: Yellow (1967) had inadvertently cemented Sweden’s reputation as the world’s most sexually liberated nation. These films, which flouted the prudish censorship standards of Hollywood and other film industries, painted a picture of Sweden as a utopia of frank sensuality and progressive morality. Exploitation cinema, ever eager to monetise cultural fascinations, swiftly capitalised on this image. The 1970s saw a flood of films ranging from pseudo-documentary “mondo” shockers to soft-core sex comedies and, later, legally sanctioned pornography, all promising glimpses of Nordic flesh. Among these, Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School (1979), directed by Erwin C. Diettrich under the pseudonym Michael Thomas, stands as a quintessential example of this genre—a film that, while unashamedly commercial, reveals much about the intersection of national identity, sexual politics, and low-budget filmmaking.
The film’s title leaves little to the imagination, a deliberate nod to the expectations of its target audience: baby boomers and older Gen Xers raised on the lurid promises of exploitation posters. Set in a picturesque Swiss boarding school during summer, the plot follows seven students—six Swedish and one French student—whose primary academic pursuit appears to be seducing every man in sight. The French student, Marie-France (Diane Kelly), narrates via diary entries, framing the film as a cheeky chronicle of youthful rebellion. Her classmates, a parade of blonde beauties, are archetypes of 1970s sexploitation: the mischievous Greta (Brigitte Lahaie), the virginal Selma (Elsa Marousia), the lazy Astrid (Kathleen Kane), and the tomboyish Kerstin (France Lomay), whose workshop tinkering doubles as a thinly veiled excuse for a lesbian scene. Their targets include a hunky gym teacher (Mike Montana), a befuddled plumber, an unsuspecting fisherman, and even a peeping Tom (Roman Huber), whom they drug with chloroform for a prank. The headmistress, Miss Klein (Anne Libert), nominally enforces discipline but is more invested in her own romantic pursuits than in curbing the girls’ antics. This setup, while predictable, is executed with a breezy charm that offsets its formulaic nature.
For all its superficiality, Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School benefits from the steady hand of Erwin C. Diettrich, a filmmaker whose prolific output in exploitation cinema earned him the moniker “Swiss Roger Corman.” Diettrich, a collaborator with cult director Jess Franco, never pretends this film is anything but a vehicle for soft-core titillation. Yet within the constraints of its genre, the film displays surprising technical competence. Cinematography is crisp, editing is brisk, and the cast—while not delivering Oscar-calibre performances—embraces the material with infectious enthusiasm. Brigitte Lahaie, one of the first European pornographic film stars, shines as Greta, her magnetic screen presence elevating the role beyond mere carnal objectification. The remaining actresses, though less renowned, carve out distinct personalities within the script’s limitations. Selma’s comedic frustration with her virginity and Kerstin’s proto-feminist tomboyishness add faint layers of characterisation, while the interchangeable Lil (Danielle Troger) and Inga (Nadine Pascal) embody the film’s more overtly voyeuristic impulses. Diettrich’s direction ensures that even the most risqué moments feel playful rather than exploitative, a balance that would become rarer as the on-screen erotica veered into hardcore pornography.
While some contemporaries classified the film as “pornographic,” it comfortably resides in the realm of mainstream erotic cinema, a product of an era when soft-core sensibilities still dominated the market. For modern viewers, the sight of naked women frolicking may lack the shock value of later explicit works, but Diettrich injects a sense of wit and visual flair that prevents the film from feeling purely transactional. The recurring scenes of naked girls in slow-motion sprints across sun-drenched fields while their breasts bounce draw inevitable comparisons to Baywatch, though Diettrich’s approach feels more candid and less self-serious. The film’s charm lies in its honesty: it never pretends to be profound, but its commitment to delivering escapist fun is oddly endearing. For audiences nostalgic for the 1970s, the film evokes a bygone era of sexploitation that prioritised craft and whimsy over explicitness, when nudity was framed as a celebration of youthful freedom rather than a clinical spectacle.
Commercially, Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School was a success, spawning a franchise that would push the formula further into explicit territory. Diettrich’s 1980 sequel, The High Test Girls, brought the protagonists to a gas station, while 1981’s Six Swedes in Ibiza and 1983’s Six Swedish Girls in the Alps shifted locales, cast, and, crucially, introduced hardcore pornography versions.
Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School is not a film that invites deep analysis, but it serves as a fascinating artefact of 1970s exploitation cinema. Its craftsmanship and unapologetic charm ensure its place as a nostalgic curio for fans of retro erotic cinema. For those willing to engage with its unabashed frivolity, the film offers a window into a time when sexploitation was as much about wit and warmth as it was about titillation—a reminder that even in the world of low-budget exploitation, there can be artistry in the artless.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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