Adapted for the screen by Willy Russell from his own play, it tells the story of the unfulfilled, titular Liverpool housewife Shirley, who has lost a sense of herself, as she has been submerged (drowned?) in the traditional roles of wife to Joe and mother to Millandra and Brian.
Joe runs his own business in Liverpool and is clearly successful, as the couple live in a very middle-class part of the city, where it seems clear that Shirley feels a lot of imposter syndrome, being from a working-class background. Accent tells us a lot in this film.
When her flamboyant, feminist (no accent) friend Jane wins a trip for two to Greece, Shirley is persuaded to accompany her – without Joe knowing, as he has always refused to go abroad.
The trip sparks a reawakening for Shirley – a “holiday romance” with herself – as she finds the strength to be herself and live life for herself.
First released in 1989, it remains strikingly on point on class, snobbery, sex and how women are policed into certain specific and restrictive roles.
The film includes some of Shirley’s school experiences – where she is belittled in front of her fellow pupils by the headteacher, while the poshly-spoken Marjorie Majors is very much teacher’s pet.
Years later, she bumps into Marjorie again – and finds that her old enemy has become a high-class prostitute. It’s one more step toward Shirley herself asserting her own agency.
This is a cracking ensemble cast. Bernard Hill is very good as the clueless, Joe, saying he’s ready to forgive Shirley’s fling with Greek tavern owner Costas as just something silly that women going through “the change” do.
Joanna Lumley is a delight as Marjorie. The scene in the hotel, when she tells Shirley what she does, is a comic joy.
Alison Steadman is great as the hypocritical Jane – again, class features in her attituds toward Shirley.
George Costigan and Anna Keaveney as a working-class Manchester couple on the same holiday to Greece are a hoot, while Cardew ‘The Cad’ Robinson and Honora Burke add another dimension of English small-mindedness as a posh, elderly couple from London. The latter, turning their noses up at kleftiko – ‘lamb with oregano’ – prefer Shirley’s offer of egg and chips.
There are neat cameos from Julia McKenzie (no accent), as a posh neighbour who asks Shirley to feed her vegetarian bloodhound while she's away, and Sylvia Syms (no accent) as the bullying headteacher.
If there’s a problem with the film, it’s in Tom Conti’s incredibly hammy performance as Costas. It wouldn’t happen now – not least since it’s in sharp contrast to other Greek characters in the film who are portrayed in a much more authentic way.
Yet I could argue – and will (just about) – that the artifice of the performance works on a certain level, given the context of an essentially sexist stereotype. Conti’s cartoonish performance perhaps because it is a comment on the generalised attitudes of men in general rather than explicitly Mediterranean men. But it’s not a hill I’m going to die on.
However, Shirley recognises what a fake he is, accepts it and engages with it in a way that meets what she needs.
And of course, then there is Pauline Collins in the title role. A fabulous performance, which deservedly saw her win a BAFTA and an Evening Standard award. Never lapsing into sentimentality, it is a beautifully nuanced portrayal of a working-class, northern woman.
As I said at the top of this – I love this film. And writing this on a rewatch has helped remind me of just some of the reasons why.
Joe runs his own business in Liverpool and is clearly successful, as the couple live in a very middle-class part of the city, where it seems clear that Shirley feels a lot of imposter syndrome, being from a working-class background. Accent tells us a lot in this film.
When her flamboyant, feminist (no accent) friend Jane wins a trip for two to Greece, Shirley is persuaded to accompany her – without Joe knowing, as he has always refused to go abroad.
The trip sparks a reawakening for Shirley – a “holiday romance” with herself – as she finds the strength to be herself and live life for herself.
First released in 1989, it remains strikingly on point on class, snobbery, sex and how women are policed into certain specific and restrictive roles.
The film includes some of Shirley’s school experiences – where she is belittled in front of her fellow pupils by the headteacher, while the poshly-spoken Marjorie Majors is very much teacher’s pet.
Years later, she bumps into Marjorie again – and finds that her old enemy has become a high-class prostitute. It’s one more step toward Shirley herself asserting her own agency.
This is a cracking ensemble cast. Bernard Hill is very good as the clueless, Joe, saying he’s ready to forgive Shirley’s fling with Greek tavern owner Costas as just something silly that women going through “the change” do.
Joanna Lumley is a delight as Marjorie. The scene in the hotel, when she tells Shirley what she does, is a comic joy.
Alison Steadman is great as the hypocritical Jane – again, class features in her attituds toward Shirley.
George Costigan and Anna Keaveney as a working-class Manchester couple on the same holiday to Greece are a hoot, while Cardew ‘The Cad’ Robinson and Honora Burke add another dimension of English small-mindedness as a posh, elderly couple from London. The latter, turning their noses up at kleftiko – ‘lamb with oregano’ – prefer Shirley’s offer of egg and chips.
There are neat cameos from Julia McKenzie (no accent), as a posh neighbour who asks Shirley to feed her vegetarian bloodhound while she's away, and Sylvia Syms (no accent) as the bullying headteacher.
If there’s a problem with the film, it’s in Tom Conti’s incredibly hammy performance as Costas. It wouldn’t happen now – not least since it’s in sharp contrast to other Greek characters in the film who are portrayed in a much more authentic way.
Yet I could argue – and will (just about) – that the artifice of the performance works on a certain level, given the context of an essentially sexist stereotype. Conti’s cartoonish performance perhaps because it is a comment on the generalised attitudes of men in general rather than explicitly Mediterranean men. But it’s not a hill I’m going to die on.
However, Shirley recognises what a fake he is, accepts it and engages with it in a way that meets what she needs.
And of course, then there is Pauline Collins in the title role. A fabulous performance, which deservedly saw her win a BAFTA and an Evening Standard award. Never lapsing into sentimentality, it is a beautifully nuanced portrayal of a working-class, northern woman.
As I said at the top of this – I love this film. And writing this on a rewatch has helped remind me of just some of the reasons why.
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