Au Pair Girls is a 1972 British sex comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Gabrielle Drake, Astrid Frank, Me Me Lai and Nancie Wait.
[1][2][3] Part of the British 1970s softcore sex comedy genre, the film also includes appearances by mainstream actors Trevor Bannister, Richard O'Sullivan, John Le Mesurier, Ferdy Mayne, Geoffrey Bayldon and Johnny Briggs.
She does not prove popular with Mr Howard as she manages to flood the house while taking a shower and then disappears on a date with Malcolm, a man who preyed on her at the airport.
Unfamiliar with the genre, he decided to view a number of foreign sex comedies in preparation, turning to ex-BBFC censor John Trevelyan for suggestions.
The opening scenes were filmed at Heathrow Airport, with Mr Wainwright's office represented by Euston Tower and the Tryke family home by Oakley Court in Bray, Berkshire.
Most of the scenes featuring Nan Lee (Me Me Lay) were filmed at Friar Park, George Harrison's mansion in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
"[6] In a contemporary review, Derek Elley of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Val Guest hits rock bottom with this humourless attempt at a sex comedy ... Gabrielle Drake and Astrid Frank just manage to keep the film moving, but as the national jokes pile relentlessly on top of one another, the principal diversion becomes the spotting of familiar British faces in the unlikeliest of roles.
[5] Brian Davidson of Cinema Retro magazine writes that the film's "chauvinistic treatment of women" would make it objectionable to many modern audiences.
He considers the film unusual for the genre in its portrayal of Christa (Nancie Wait), whose unhappy story "forces us to reconsider our response to everything that has gone before.
"[5][8] In his autobiography, he distanced himself from Au Pair Girls and his later sex comedy Confessions of a Window Cleaner, stating that he preferred to be remembered for his earlier work.