What Barbara Steele Said

In the movie "Young Torless" , the woman played by Barbara Steele kisses 16-year-old Torless (because he is homesick) and she says that he has now come "alive". She looks down at his pants and smiles. I interpret this as she saw that he had an erection. Then Barbara looks at him again and down at his pants, then smiles and says/implies something to the effect that Torless associating with women is better than what is done (by boys) at the dorm. I would interpret her comments about that to boys masturbating due to a lack of girls.