Shirley Valentine (DVD)

Shirley Valentine is a forty something woman, married to Joe, who is vastly discontented with her life. Somewhere on the path to becoming who she is now, she lost a part of herself - the part of her that has fun. Then she gets the chance to go on holiday to Greece. Dumped by her friend, she is forced to spend the holiday on her own, but finds that she loves everything about the holiday (except perhaps the other British tourists!). When she finds a Greek lover, she begins to wonder if she should even bother going back home. Has she found a new life for herself? And what about Joe back in England? The film is told from the point of view of Shirley, who talks ...  Read the complete review

This is a great British Classic film from 1989 but it is still good to watch and never ceases to amuse me and pull on the heart strings a little too. Since she was a girl, Shirley Valentine-Bradshaw has had the ability to see the funny side of any given situation. The film gives us glimpses of her rebellious time in High School. Now she is Shirley Valentine, housewife and mother, who stops one day and looks back on her life. Where has it gone? She feels that she has lost touch with her dreams and when she meets up with an old school friend (Joanna Lumley) who always had her admiration, she remembers how she wanted to be like her. There ...  Read the complete review

This is one of those films that I've waited 20 years to see. I've never had the desperate urge to view it, although I've been aware of it since its original release. Finally though, I managed to get a viewing of it this week through a tv airing. Can I say it was worth the wait? Pauline Collins stars as bored housewife Shirley (of the title, although Valentine was her maiden name), relegated to housekeeper by an unaware and un-attentive husband. Like so many of her generation, she is in a marriage that is largely unrewarding, speaking only with her husband when he wants to have an argument over the dinner. In short, he's become an interminable bore who ...  Read the complete review

Shirley Bradshaw is a frumpy, middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who talks to her kitchen wall while preparing her husband's chips and egg and wondering what happened to her life. In flashbacks to her recent and more distant life with what she looks at what she used to be like and feels she's lost her zest and is in a rut. Then her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two and Shirley Bradshaw begins to see herself and the world, in a different light. Gradually she recaptures Shirley Valentine who believed she could fly Pauline Collins plays the title character who begins this tale looking back on how her life has changed from when she was ...  Read the complete review

I hold my hands up here, when my other half told me she was going to watch Shirley Valentine the other day I decided I would do some necessary jobs like cleaning out the dishwasher or washing up the milk bottles, anything to get out of watching it, how wrong I was this isn't really a film at any specific audience, its just a bloody good film for anyone who feels trapped or like their not fulfilling the dreams they once had. Shirley Valentine was I believe adapted from a successful Willy Russell stage play and won Pauline Collins a Tony award, it translates well to the screen although it has dated pretty badly in terms of clothes and hair etc, but it possibly ...  Read the complete review