Very Annie Mary (2001)

Synopsis: The myth of the eccentric Englishman (or woman) is given a cinematic boost by the awkwardly hysterical VERY ANNIE MARY, a tale of a young Welsh woman's stumbling struggle to proclaim her independence and strike out on her own. With an epic sweep reminiscent of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, VERY ANNIE MARY... The myth of the eccentric Englishman (or woman) is given a cinematic boost by the awkwardly hysterical VERY ANNIE MARY, a tale of a young Welsh woman's stumbling struggle to proclaim her independence and strike out on her own. With an epic sweep reminiscent of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, VERY ANNIE MARY examines the bucolic and banal life of 33-year-old Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths), a perpetually adolescent and tragically klutzy young woman, miserably under the thumb of her egomaniacal opera singing father (Jonathan Pryce). Since the death of her beloved and similarly opera-loving mother when she was a girl, Annie Mary clings to the memories of a childhood musical competition where she was awarded a scholarship to study opera singing in Milan (which her domineering father prevented her from accepting). Haunted by the specter of a future that could never be, Annie Mary mopes around, lost in hopeless dreams of living on her own and finding love. When her father is rendered helpless by a stroke, Annie Mary is forced to take her life into her own hands, which is when her inspired and overenthusiastic effort to reclaim her true self (and her singing voice) begins to send shock waves through her secluded Welsh village. [More]