Helen Mirren and Julie Walters star in this film about 11 real life women from north Yorkshire who decide to raise money for charity by posing their 50 something selves as calendar girls.
Being in this demographic myself, I loved this movie. It is a celebration of life, all life but especially the life of happy middle-aged women. I loved seeing those bodies (even though they are actresses, they are my age). I loved the friendship and the bit of sniping as well. I loved the hormonally challenged teenagers who rail against their parents’ sexuality while flaunting their own.
Some aspects of the script are not true to the real life story but there is a true “feel” to the production and it is based on a real story. The bodies seen in the film appear real. Those seen in the promotional posters are quite touched up, complete with cutesified crows’ feet. BBC sources say there was no florist, that the embarrassed secondary school student was actually in college, that the WI was fully supportive of the alternative calendar all along, that the big fight between the lead characters didn’t actually happen. They also say the friendships are real, and that bickering did occur. This reassures and comforts me.
The scenery alone is enough to make me want to go to north Yorkshire. It is gorgeous. I do wonder if young men climb that boulder still…and if groups of women do Tai Chi on that hilltop. I hope so.
The BBC source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/3079112.stm
The real women:
http://images.google.com/images?q=calendar+baker%
OK, I just want to visit this:
http://www.bedale.com/placestovisit.htm (especially the "leech house")
Brit endorsements:
BlueDragon "oh, a truly fantastic film, I laughed and cried and sometimes did both at the same time."
princess loulou "i haven't seen the movie myself, but my momomom has and she had nothing but praise for it, including representation of north yorks" and "the breathtaking scenery. it is just as gorgeous in real life, if not more so"
BuffcorePhil "As a yorkshire born and bred guy, (I hail from Hull) I can say that yes, the countryside is indeed great, the wolds are beautiful. I have no idea where Calendar Girls is set though, never seen it."