A Forty Minutes documentary film
Despite everything, the finishing school is alive and well and mainly to be found in Switzerland. Some 400 monuments to Swiss finishing skill exist in this Alpine paradise.
The most famous perhaps is the Institut Videmanette in Rougemont. For it was here that the future Princess of Wales completed her education. But high in esteem is the Institut Villa Pierrefeu that looks down on Montreux. Here some 24 young ladies are 'finished' at a cost to their parents of nearly E15,000 a year.
Finishing involves not only the learning of French, but also the mysteries of protocol, etiquette, floral art, precedence at table, haute cuisine, styles of furniture and decoration, couture, and all the skills necessary if a girl has the good fortune to 'marry someone who is someone'.
The finishing of three English girls, Sarah, Francesca and Natalie, is the subject of this documentary film.
Executive producer ROGER MILLS
Producer RICHARD DENTON