Looks like there’s an awful lot I want to see over Christmas: Narnia, King Kong, The Producers, Keeping Mum (don’t ask), Joyeux Noël… So here’s one down, several to go:
Mrs Henderson Presents
- Official Site
- Metacritic Rating: 70
- My Rating: 9/10
I was wondering when we were going to get this year’s Calendar Girls, Full Monty, or Stage Beauty, the very British feelgood-sort-of-movie that BBC Films seems to support an awful lot nowadays…
And here it is.
I don’t necessarily think I thought I would, but I did enjoy this film.
The story, in a paragraph (without giving too much away):
Laura Henderson (Judi Dench) is a rich, recently widowed aristocrat. She is bored with widowhood, so a friend offers her some advice. She can try embroidery (which she’s no good at), take a lover (she believes she’s too old), or buy whatever she wants. The last option appeals to her, so she purchases the run-down West End showplace, the Windmill Theater, and decides to renovate it. She wants to present a revue, but that’s where the inspiration ends. To handle the production, she hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), a prickly sort of man who demands complete creative control. He and Laura are immediately at odds, but the result of their collaboration is “Revudeville,” an immediate success. However, after getting off to a smashing start, the show sputters. That’s when Mrs. Henderson comes up with a revolutionary idea to boost business – take a page from the French and make the showgirls nude. The Lord Chamberlain (Christopher Guest), who must okay this sort of thing, agrees, but with one proviso: when the girls are naked, they must remain unmoving.
I expected Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins to be good, and of course they are. They spark of each other fantastically. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was that Will Young (yes, *that* Will Young) is pretty impressive too! He does a lot of singing, naturally, but generally he seems a pretty good all-rounder… Kelly Reilly is charming as Maureen, the only dancer whose backstory we really get to know.
The story is a bit schmaltzy, and, to a certain extent, quite topical (London theatres won’t close even though bombs are going off all over the place…), but Stephen Frears (who also directed Dirty Pretty Things – a very different film) manages it pretty well. The music (after all, we’re talking about music hall theatre, pretty much) is just right, using both contemporary tunes and a certain amount of new stuff.
I’m quickly running out of things to say, but David has more, and I really do recommend that you check it out. The US, prudes that they are, has given it an R certificate, whereas Britain’s 12A seems much more realistic. But I can understand the censors’ conundrum: there is (naturally, given the premise of the film) a certain amount of “artistic nudity” – but it’s all very tasteful, and nothing at all offensive (much).
The trailer gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect and what’s going on – but ignore the American voiceover chappy (“In a world…”)
