Beryl Reid stars as British actress June Buckridge who plays kindly Sister George, a 50-ish district nurse in a British soap opera. She's played the role for four years and is so identified with the character that her nickname is "George".
Meanwhile, George's relationship with her younger live-in girlfriend (Suzanna York) is on the rocks.
Producers of the soap opera plan to kill off Sister George in a sudden, violent accident, a little like Charlie Sheen's demise in Two and a Half Men, something they'd be sure she couldn't come back from. This is in part because the drunken actress forced her way into the back of a taxi and assaulted two nuns. George is offered a voice-acting role in a BBC children's series, something a lot of older actors do now. George Segal was the voice of Dr Benton Quest in a Johnny Quest reboot before his come-back as a sit-com actor.
Based on a play that was presented as a black comedy. The movie was advertised as a "shocking drama".
Director Robert Aldrich made this and a few other movies in his own studio he bought with his The Dirty Dozen (1967) money.
In 1968, it was about the only mainstream movie about lesbians. It made sense that critics in the gay press were unhappy with it, not that stodgy mainstream critics went for it. I'm not sure how it should be regarded today, but I liked it. George was an awful person and her soap opera didn't look very good. I would think becoming a voice actor would be a nice change. Take it easy for a while.
