Shirley Valentine (1989)

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writers:

Willy Russell (play)
Willy Russell (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 August 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

No one thought she had the courage. The nerve. Or the lingerie.

Plot:

Shirley's a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chip'n'egg...

Plot Keywords:

Housewife | Self Realization | Husband Wife Relationship | Liverpudlian | Greek Island

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Pauline Collins	...	Shirley Valentine-Bradshaw
Tom Conti	...	Costas
Julia McKenzie	...	Gillian
Alison Steadman	...	Jane
Joanna Lumley	...	Marjorie Majors
Sylvia Syms	...	Headmistress
Bernard Hill	...	Joe Bradshaw
George Costigan	...	Dougie
Anna Keaveney	...	Jeanette
Tracie Bennett	...	Millandra
Ken Sharrock	...	Sydney
Karen Craig	...	Thelma
Gareth Jefferson	...	Brian
Gillian Kearney	...	Young Shirley Valentine
Catharine Duncan	...	Young Marjorie Majors

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Littlewoods department store, Oxford Circus, Oxford Street, London, England, UK

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Shirley Valentine" by Willy Russell opened at the Booth Theater in New York on February 16, 1989, ran for 324 performances and received a nominated for the 1989 Tony Award for the Best Play. Pauline Collins won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and recreated her stage role in the movie.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the US version of the film, when Gillian encounters Shirley choosing underwear for her holiday the phrase "garter belt" is dubbed over the words "suspender belt".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Shirley Valentine: Hiya Wall.
[to the camera]
Shirley Valentine: Well what's wrong with that? There's a woman three doors down talks to her microwave. Talking to a microwave! Wall, what's the world coming to ?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in A Handful of Summers (1991) (V)

Soundtrack:

THE GIRL WHO USED TO BE ME

Finding your own reality

I just recommended this movie to a friend who's having her mid-life crisis. Just like Shirley, she can't stop taking care of other people at her own expense. Everyone who reviews this film focuses on its heart-warming qualities, making it sound like Pollyanna. The reality of Shirley Valentine is that it's very grounded in reality. Every moment of the film is fraught with ambiguity, moral and emotional. Shirley's trip to Greece and subsequent adventures are not Hallmark moments. She realizes quite clearly that her fantasies are superimposed on the necessities of reality. She doesn't marry a tycoon: she gets a waitress job. She realizes from the get-go that her relationship with Costas is a good-natured fraud. The ending of the movie doesn't answer any questions except "How does Shirley feel right at this moment in time?" This is not a film about escaping to a fantasy. It's about finding a reality that works for who you really are. Every human being on earth who's dissatisfied with their life should watch this film.