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Based on a real-life situation that made headlines worldwide (a development that is incorporated into the story), Calendar Girls is equal parts drama and comedy, woven seamlessly into a narrative fabric carefully stitched together by director Nigel Cole. It begins in a small English village where women while away their spare hours in a ladies club where floral arrangements and baking contests are the principal activities. When the husband of a well-liked member (Julie Walters) succumbs to cancer, her best friend (Helen Mirren) proposes a more worthy project: raising money to finance a cancer-care wing in the local hospital. Somewhat improbably, the middle-aged women decide to do this by selling calendars adorned with semi-nude pictures of themselves. Yes, this really happened, and Cole depicts the process in hilariously excruciating detail. He shows us that the ladies each have something to prove, if only to themselves; one initially reticent participant poses just to get back at her unfaithful husband, another to vindicate her supposedly unseemly interest in sexuality. The calendar's notoriety goes beyond the shores of Mother England, and a large chunk of the narrative is devoted to the ladies' whirlwind trip to Hollywood, their subsequent appearances on TV, and their overnight celebrity. The consequences of sudden fame, including bloated egos and unwelcome intrusions by strangers, conspire to unravel this close-knit group, and Cole and his uniformly excellent cast believably depict the inevitable personality conflicts. Ciaran Hinds is especially strong as Mirren's patient but increasingly exasperated husband. Like The Full Monty, to which it’s inevitably compared, Calendar Girls is a perfectly unassuming and delightful comedy. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Nigel Cole directs the feel-good comedy Calendar Girls, based on the true story of a group of working-class British housewives who became overnight celebrities by posing for a nude calendar in order to raise more than 500-thousand pounds for a new leukemia unit. The film follows the adventures of best friends Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) and Annie Clarke (Julie Walters), both members of the charitable Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire. After Annie's husband John (John Alderton) succumbs to leukemia, the friends are motivated to take some action. They convince the group to craft a tastefully nude calendar featuring the usual ladies' activities of gardening and baking, as photographed by the young amateur Lawrence (Philip Glenister). Despite the disapproval of the Institute's leader Marie (Geraldine James), the calendar quickly becomes a best-seller and leads the group to Hollywood. Ciaran Hinds appears as Chris' husband Rod Harper. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 786936227932
• Source: WALT DISNEY VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: Français, English
• Subtitles: Español
• Time: 1:48:00
• Sales Rank: 13,403

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