The winter draws on.....done most of my Christmas shopping already ! Just hoping it doesn't snow too...
The winter draws on.....done most of my Christmas shopping already ! Just hoping it doesn't snow too soon.
Member since:04.03.2003
Reviews:123
Members who trust:42
Certificate: 12A certificate_12A Running time: 108 mins Starring: Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Annette Crosbie, Celia Imrie, John Alderton, Penelope Wilton, Geraldine James, Philip Glenister
We went to see Calendar Girls last weekend. The problem with looking forward to seeing a film so much is that sometimes the real thing comes as a huge disappointment. From the first minute, this film does not disappoint and there is a roller coaster of emotions throughout. The time just flew and I can honestly say that it was one of the most enjoyable films I've seen for many a year.
What's it about? The movie is based on the real-life story of Angela Baker and Tricia Stewart, played by Julie Walters and Helen Mirren, who decided to raise money for leukaemia charities after Mrs Baker's husband died of cancer in 1998. The film is set in a village near Skipton in Yorkshire (for those of you who don't know where it is) and the first thing we see is a series of WI (Women's Institute) meetings with guest speakers dealing with such issues as holidays to Broccoli (yes, really!)...all usual stuff in a village- I know! The women look to be dressed in clothes from inter-war years, but in reality, there are M+S , Berketex and other
solid makes of dresses in that village hall. Julie Walters and Helen Mirren are slightly more modern in that tehy wear trousers....well, you get the idea!
We get taken through a few "normal" WI events- cake making and so on...very funny actually in spite of it seeming to be as boring as it could be.. Anyway, there is a sad side to this tale. Julie Walter's husband in the film (John Alderton from Please Sir and the Vets series) contracts Leukemia and is very poorly, and dies.
So that they can raise money for a sofa in the local hospital relatives room, the two very ordinary women (Played by Julie Walters and Helen Mirren) conceive the calendar idea. The chair of their WI branch wants to do one with local churches or similar, but instead of the usual WI calendars which feature "village greens, hills, dales and post boxes", Mrs Stewart (who apparently is always having madcap ideas) came up with the idea of stripping off and being photographed in traditional WI poses such as knitting, jam-making and flower arranging.
In real life, the pictures, taken in 1999, were carefully posed to preserve the modesty of the 11 women, aged between 45 and 65, and the calendars were put on sale in their local pub in Cracoe, a Yorkshire Dales village.
They posed for the sepia-tinted photos by hiding discreetly behind strategically placed cherry tarts, sunflowers and sieves, to name but a few. They DO have trouble getting a proper photographer but eventually this is achieved, and the photos are taken...in hilarious circumstances. Each picture has an image of a sunflower on it somewhere becasue it was John Baker's favourite flower and they were making the calendar for him, really. I read somewhere that the real ladies had to get tipsy before taking their clothes off becasue they were all nervous.
The permission of the national conference has to be sought and the scene with the national head of WI is very good- you feel like poking her in the eye!
Local titillation blossoms into national interest and soon some of the girls are being whisked off to the chat shows of Hollywood for their five minutes of fame. Mirren and Walters have problems coping when when celebrity dawns, and Mirren has some issues of her own at home to deal with.
Most of the interest for many of course will rest on the nude scenes, and these are well handled by both cast and crew. The girls are all admirable in their gusto at giving it a go, and the likes of Celia Imrie and Annette Crosbie help to round out a talented cast with a comic touch. Given thier ages, I feel that there's hope for us all!
The filming was well done, nicely contrasting the gentle green expanse of the Yorkshire Dales with the harsher lights of Hollywood.
How did the calendars sell?
Although the women were aiming to sell enough to buy a sofa, this did not happen.The calendars sold 88,000 copies in the UK and nearly 200,000 in the US, making £578,000 for charity.
The women thought the calendar would help raise a few extra pounds for charity, and were taken completely by surprise when the story caught the media's imagination and hit headlines around the world.
Will it appeal to everyone? Probably not. I liked it because I'm from the North and appreciate the humour. I happen to like many of the actresses in the film and the area in which the film was made, and thought it was worth seeing becasue of these reasons. My two sons don't want to see it becasue they are not interested in seeing a film that I want to see (out of principle) but they are also not interested in the WI, or nude old women (as my son charmingly put it-to my dismay). However, I will be getting this when it comes out on video and I know they'll watch it then.
It was a funny, moving and warming film, and if you don't see it, you'll be sorry. If you do see it and you don't like it, you've probably had a humourectomy and wouldn't like anything. So there's no hope for you.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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In the sensible yet elegant hands of actresses Helen Mirren and Julie Walters,Calendar ... more
Girlswalks a fine line between sappiness and snickering and ends up both wonderfully funny and gently touching. When her best friend Annie (Walters) loses her husban...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
In the sensible yet elegant hands of actresses Helen Mirren and Julie Walters,Calendar ... more
Girlswalks a fine line between sappiness and snickering and ends up both wonderfully funny and gently touching. When her best friend Annie (Walters) loses her husban...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
CALENDAR GIRLS is the hilariously quirky comedy starring Golden Globe winners Helen Mirren ... more
and Julie Walters and directed by Nigel Cole. When twelve extraordinary members of the Women's Institute, a proper local charity, decide they need to find a new ...
![Calendar Girls [DVD] [2003]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78498835.jpg "Calendar Girls [DVD] [2003]")
Sep 30th, 2003
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