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A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris |
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Title: Calendar Girls
Date of original theatrical release: 2003
Details:
- Helen Mirren
- Julie Walters
- Linda Bassett
- Annette Crosbie
- Celia Imrie
- Geraldine James
- Penelope Wilton
- Georgie Glen
- Angela Curran
- Rosalind March
- John Alderton
- Director: Nigel Cole
Score: +
The Review: Opening scene: a small Yorkshire town, the weekly evening meeting of the local women's information (WI) group, the honored visiting speaker is waxing enthusiastically about broccoli. Next week, the topic will be even more fascinating. Those in the audience not nodding off are quietly giggling (Mirren & Walters). But when the husband (Alderton) of one of the women (Walters) requires treatment for a particularly insidious form of leukemia, some of the chapter band together for a fund-raiser activity -- after all, this is one of the things this group does: charity. The choice of activity is, however, a bit incongruous -- considering that these are women "of a certain age" -- it's a calendar, and not one illustrating cherished Yorkshire churches or bridges, but in the spirit of an automotive garage pinup calendar, with the chapter's women in the nude. Just imagine all the folderol this raises! The idea comes from one of the group's firebrands and iconoclasts (Mirren), but slowly takes hold.
For all the nervousness and tittering, this is a remarkably sensitive treatment. Some of the scenes are side-splittingly hilarious, many deeply serious and moving. I especially liked the women's tai chi class on top of a spectacularly gorgeous Yorkshire hillside, on one of those two or three days annually when the sky is blue with puffy clouds, and there's no rain or fog in sight.
Apparently based on real events, the WI Yorkshire group eventually raised over 500 thousand pounds for leukemia research, to global acclaim. Not bad for a small county calendar...
(3-Jul-07)
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