fajrdrako | (no subject)

I mentioned Smallville sunflowers to

blackbyrde and it sparked a thought....

On Saturday, at Sheila's place, I watched Calendar Girls. What a magnificently funny movie. I expected to find it funny; it was far funnier than I'd imagined. Just a terrific movie. The characters sounded sort of like the people in Coronation Street but they were much nicer - especially the men. Well, two out of three of the men.

If you don't know, it's the (true) story of a twelve women in a Woman's Association in Yorkshire who got together to make a calendar to raise money for their local hospital - where the husband of one of the women had died of cancer. Because they wanted to do something different, they photographed themselves doing regular Women's Institute-type activities - knitting, gardening, baking - in the nude. (Not that they showed any naughty bits.) The calendar raised a phenomenal amount of money, and the movie is the story of what it did to their lives.

Favourite bits:
- Ciaran Hinds (husband of the protagonist, Chris [Helen Mirren]) being stupidly indiscreet with a fishing journalist (he hadn't twigged that the guy was from the press... even when he pulled out a camera)
- I love Helen Mirren. Just for the record.
- The reactions of Chris's adolescent son, excruciatingly embarrassed by his mother (and prone to walking in on photo sessions at exactly the wrong moments)
- the beautiful Yorkshire scenery. It must be some of the loveliest country in the universe. (Closely rivalled by Northumberland, the Lake District, Scotland, and Cape Breton Island.)
- The different reactions of the different women to the project, particularly the participants.
- Twelve Yorkshire women in Hollywood, looking for George Clooney!

I loved the actual calendar, but I thought the photographer, Lawrence, should have been given more credit, screen time, and laurels. He did the artistic, creative composition - and they got the trip to California. Besides, we hardly learned anything about him at all.

And, oh - the connection to Smallville sunflowers. The man who died cultivated sunflowers - he said he loved them because they always turned to the son and he liked the philosophy of the image. When they made the calendar, the photos were monochrome, except for the presence of a brightly-coloured sunflower in each picture.