thirdlady

This film is great!

anyone seen that movie?

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

Ambrosia

A great icon of its day, one of my Favorites. I love the repor SV has with the Wall, play on the old pun and copied many times. The use of the primary character as the narrator and first person perspective lends to the comic observation of events outside of the narrative effectivly. Although I have it on VHS I am still to collect it on DVD holding out till it is available as a freebee in the papers.


Shirley Valentine takes the form of a monologue by a housewife before and after a transforming holiday in Greece. Shirley's a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chips 'n' egg, wondering what happened to her life. She compares scenes in her current life with what she used to be like and feels she's stagnated and in a rut. But when her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two, she leaves the drudgery of cooking dinner for her husband, packs her bags and heads for the sun. The note on the kitchen table reads "Gone to Greece back in two weeks." Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light.



"It is a simple and brilliant idea...the profound and perennial point of the comedy is the problem we seem to have contemplating the idea of a woman alone - in a pub, on a beach, in a restaurant. This is what Shirley learns to combat as she unravels her own sexual and social identity. The play is not only funny, it is also moving." (Michael Coveney, Financial Times)
With Shirley Valentine, Willy developed a new style of writing - the one woman show. When first created, Shirley Valentine was a two act play created for one voice. In the first act Shirley is at home, in her kitchen and talking to her wall. In the second act she is in Greece on holiday and talks instead to a rock on the beach she visits each day, though I feel tthe transition between play and screenplay was well done.

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late.

theuofc

Hi, Charles,

I'm glad you liked Shirley Valentine also. It's more than just a "chick" flick. Its gentle, humorous, but thoughtful exploration of mid-life crisis and the joys of living life fully could just as easily have been about a man trapped in a boring job, a marriage that turned mute once the music ended at the wedding reception, and patronising children who only come home when they need something.
Who doesn't empathise with the woman or man talking to the Wall.

Best,

Barbara

Steve Crook

"He kissed my stretch marks!"
Yes, it's a great story & a very well made film.

Steve

thirdlady

Thanks for the pics they're great!

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

Ambrosia

'You kissed my stretch marks'
'These are the marks of life, they show you are alive .....be proud of them'
'Arnt men full of shit'

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late.

thirdlady

my mum loves this movie

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

ChristineCB

This is one of those excellent films that exists on non-USA DVDs only. Thank goodness I never used peanut butter in my VHS deck.

Dave Rattigan

Pity it received such an awful DVD release. It was in fullscreen and it was the American version, with some parts dubbed to cater for American audiences.

Nevertheless, a good film. I found it became quite a personal film to me when I was leaving religious fundamentalism; the theme of someone suddenly finding themselves an alien in their own world quite resonated with me.

ChristineCB

I'm sorry to hear that the DVD wasn't given good treatment. I've pondered seeking a trade from someone but I can't believe how many relatively modern films have been butchered into Pan & Puke format when black-barring the top and botton has to be so much cheaper than hiring technicians to recut and re-direct the film's selected focus, cell by cell.