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Vera Drake (2004)
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Reviews Counted:153
Fresh:141
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: With a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion.
Theatrical Release:Oct 10, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $3,627,889
Synopsis: Mike Leigh produces another devastating masterpiece with the heartbreaking VERA DRAKE. Imelda Staunton is the title character, beloved wife of Stan (Phil Davis) and mother of Sid (Daniel Mays) and... Mike Leigh produces another devastating masterpiece with the heartbreaking VERA DRAKE. Imelda Staunton is the title character, beloved wife of Stan (Phil Davis) and mother of Sid (Daniel Mays) and Ethel (Alex Kelly). Vera spends her days cleaning houses for money and looking in on elderly and sick neighbors out of the kindness of her heart. She even attempts to be a matchmaker for her daughter, inviting a lonely neighbor, Reg (Eddie Marsan), to see if he might be a perfect match for the introverted Ethel. But Vera performs another duty that her family doesn't know about, one that is deeply frowned upon by society. When tragedy befalls a young client of Vera's, the truth comes out, forcing her family to see their mother in an entirely different light. Staunton gives a towering performance and, in typical Mike Leigh fashion, the story, characters, and script were built from a grueling and intricate improvisation process, resulting in a film that burns with heart-wrenching sincerity. Rather than take a heavy-handed approach towards his controversial subject matter, Leigh heroically remains non-judgmental, delivering an achingly humanistic drama that will linger with audiences long after they leave the theater. [More]
Starring: Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Peter Wight, Eddie Marsan
Starring: Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Peter Wight, Eddie Marsan, Adrian Scarborough, Sally Hawkins, Ruth Sheen
Director: Mike Leigh
Director: Mike Leigh
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Producer: Simon Williams, Alain Sarde
Composer: Andrew Dickson
Studio: Fine Line Features
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Release:
Mar 29, 2005
Reviews for Vera Drake
In a hopelessly polarized debate, Leigh allows us to see real people involved in real situations. The film will keep people on either side of the abortion debates talking.
Word "great" doesn't do justice to what Imelda Staunton delivers with her performance.
Staunton lends the role of Vera a great emotional complexity, eschewing any facile moral response to the social and sexual issues at the heart of the film.
Imelda Staunton delivers an indelible performance as a woman with a frighteningly simplistic idea of the world and how to live in it.
Moralmente complexo, está longe de representar uma experiência 'satisfatória' para o espectador, que sairá emocionalmente esgotado do cinema. Isto o engrandece ainda mais.
La película confirma a Mike Leigh como uno de los mejores representantes del cine británico, y a Imelda Staunton como una de sus mejores actrices.
Vera Drake succeeds because Leigh is not interested in sloganeering but in looking at the human and moral cost.
Despite an occasionally hampering pace, Vera Drake is worth [it] because of its impeccably conceived and acted characters and the moral quagmire they present us with.
Imelda Staunton, a noted British stage actress, gives the best performance of any actress I have seen in the last few years.
There are few topics that generate more controversy than abortion, yet Mike Leigh's film seems wholly uninterested in courting debate.
Leigh takes time to show us the daily lives of all characters, giving them more reality than a Hollywood film would think necessary.
For those of us who remember when abortions were done with coat hangers and knitting needles ... Vera Drake recalls this era with matter-of-fact directness.
Latest News for Vera Drake
February 19, 2009:
Georgia Groome - Fresh Talent on RT
She was 13 when she made her big screen debut in Paul Andrew Williams' affecting drama London to Brighton, and drew stellar notices from critics as a young victim of child... More...
February 03, 2009:
RT Interview: Golden Globe Winner Sally Hawkins
After winning Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, the Golden Globes, and a score of critics' circles for her ebullient performance in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky,... More...
April 10, 2007:
Imelda Staunton Talks About How to Play a "Potter" Villain
It's probably not all that flattering when you're hired to play a character who's described as "short, ugly, and toadlike," but that won't stop British actress Imelda... More...
February 03, 2006:
Potter Part 5 Gets Production Underway
Principal photography will commence February 6 at England’s Leavesden Studios on "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film adaptation of J.K.... More...
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