Calendar Girls

Another one of those movies I watched back when it came out and recently watched again. Like the women who pose for the calendar, the movie has aged well. My wife and I watch a lot of British tv (for Americans) so we have seen the actresses in many other excellent performances. Calendar a Girls reminds me of another great movie, (Waking) Ned Devine. There is humor, a feel good plot, and a fine ensemble cast. There are a perhaps a couple of more serious subplots in this film, such as Alderton’s character’s illness that gives birth to the calendar fundraiser. The movie is of course based on an actual fundraising calendar undertaken from women aged 45-65. I didn’t research it to see how accurate the plot is as I do in some reality based films, because I just watched it for is entertainment value. So should you.

My dad worked in the motor trade when I was a kid, and I was forever seeing Pirelli or Michelin calendars with scantily clad women on them; hell even the beer cans had them too! Well, it's in a garage that "Chris" (Helen Mirren) spots one and it gives her inspiration. Why? Her best friend "Annie" (Julie Walters) has recently become a widow following the death from cancer of her beloved husband "John" (John Alderton), and they are trying to organise a fund raiser to buy a new sofa for their local hospice. With another vodka tasting already ruled out by their slightly prudish WI President "Marie" (Geraldine James) they have to think out of the box, or in this case out of the bra! Yep, she decides to recruit another eleven of her friends and then rope in Richard Glenister's "Lawrence" as the photographer to create a tasteful yet provocative showcase for their beauty. Of course this isn't a straightforward procedure, there are reservations from "Marie", their husbands and even themselves in the beginning but once they've decided... Up to this point, this grand assembly of British stage and screen talent delivers a pithily written, even brave, look at sexuality amongst the older generations. The dialogue is funny and acutely observational at times, and a really solid cast with Celia Imrie, Annette Crosbie and Penelope Wilton all delivering well into the humorous meleé comes across really well. It's the second part that doesn't work quite so well. A trip to star on the "Tonight" show with Jay Leno sows some seeds of martial and familial discord, and this all rather slows the pace down. Though doubtless faithful to this true story, I just felt we could have done without it and just focussed on the joy - and there is plenty of that - of the thing. There's a good dynamic between Mirren and Walters and even now, twenty years later, this has a potency that has to question whether anyone would do it at all nowadays. It's good fun, this.