Shirley Valentine

Marriage is like the Middle East.... there's no solution!

Absolute classic line

You have all inspired me to watch it now! Bloody loving it. I would absolutely love to go away by myself like that for a week or two. Wine on the beach, bliss!

One of my favourite films. If you ever get the opportunity to see the (original) stage play, do. It's written as a monologue. Sheridan Smith was excellent in it earlier this year.
Re: some of the previous observations:

• Some Scousers do say 'chips and egg'
• Marjorie Majors career as a high class 'whore' (her words) are clearly for the humour of the shock factor. Whilst 'banker' or possibly 'accountant' might have provided the same wealth it's not so shocking, there's not the same juxtaposition to Shirley's imagined career for Marjorie. Marjorie was the respectable/proper/posh one at school. (This is obviously in addition to the 'no-one really knows other people's lives'.)
• although written by a man I think it shows great empathy for the lot of an average working class housewife (esp in the 1970s when he wrote it).
• she looks at the camera and says 'aren't men full of shit' in response to Costas kissing her stretch marks and telling her they are beautiful because they are part of her. I assume this was cut as it was an expletive before the watershed?

I absolutely love the Scouse humour in it, it's so authentic.

Didn't she say she was in love with life? I liked that and that it wasn't Tom Conti she stayed for.

We went to a Greek island on holiday this year and I spent some time imagining living there by myself.
Wouldn't even need Tom Conti and his moustache 🤣🤣

It's definitely more relatable as you get older.

One of my favourite films . As I have gotten older I do understand it more and find it more relatable.

The bit in the film when the scene changes to Greece is just wonderful.
I also love the restaurant with the other holiday makers and the Kalimari.
We always says chips and egg in this house (in dodgy Scouse accents).

I liked it a lot as a teenager, but I remember saying to my Dad that I hoped she and her husband got back together at the end. He said "they won't" with absolute certainty and I didn't understand why.

Now I'm 42, I definitely understand it in a way I didn't before. But that's true for a lot of books and films. Much easier to understand what you've seen / experienced in real life.

@Mmhmmn

What - go away to Greece? No fan of Brexit but I'm fairly sure that's still possible 😂

Not wanting to derail the thread, but given all the misinformation around, I'm moved to clarify that post-Brexit is is still possible to apply for residency in any country and, if you can comply with all the conditions they set, eventually gain residency to be allowed to work and live in that country.

The difference for citizens of EU member countries is that they have a right to live and work in any other member country.

Think my son's mind was a bit blown yesterday when I told him that Tom Conti is the same guy that plays Albert Einstein in Oppenheimer.

Ah, so it wasn't something Marjorie expressly mentioned @TarantinoIsAMisogynist I'd forgotten. I should watch it again. Yes, it would have seemed like an incredibly glamorous career to Shirley.

I know it's ambiguous, but I think she leaves him, or rather hope that she does and creates a new life for herself.

I hope this too

Marjorie, I also found it inexplicable that she wanted to waste her education on becoming an air hostess

My interpretation was that it was Shirley who desperately wanted to be an air hostess (travel, glamour etc.), so she had projected that desire on to Marjorie. They hadn't been friends at school, so Marjorie likely wouldn't have shared her plans/ambitions with Shirley.

Try seeing if it's on BBC iPlayer. They have quite a few old films.

What - go away to Greece? No fan of Brexit but I'm fairly sure that's still possible 😂

No, I watched it in the early 90s, as a child, and got it. I thought the actress looked around 50, and apparently she was (49).

Yes, 'chips and egg' is wrong.

Marjorie, I also found it inexplicable that she wanted to waste her education on becoming an air hostess (not trying to denigrate the job to add!). Though it probably seemed like a glamorous career to Shirley, or perhaps in the 80s. The scene might have worked with a different profession, but no shock value.

The ending. I know it's ambiguous, but I think she leaves him, or rather hope that she does and creates a new life for herself. Not to return to him, though he now appreciates her...for a time (cynical). Sell the house and buy something in Greece.

I watched it yesterday afternoon on Channel 5 while cooking dinner.
I loved it. It’s a second time I watched it and now I want to go to Greece and no I never talked to a wall.

Collins was 49 when the film was made.

Yes, both men and women aged much earlier (and had their families much earlier) in those days! You hit a certain age and adopted an age appropriate uniform. For women, house coat indoors, short hair etc.

She was supposed to be early 40s in this 😳

The last time I watched it, was on YouTube. It wasn't the best quality, but it was watchable. Might be worth trying.

Don't be dissing Willy Russell!! He once said something very compliments about something I wrote - he can do no wrong! 😉

While I agree with you, the film definitely resonates with 50 year old me much more than it did when I first saw it, and I understand it in a more visceral way.

That's a good take on it. Something to think about.

If the intention was to show that you never know what's going on beneath the surface, it makes more sense. Although could have been achieved in a different way?

For example - I love the way the Gillian character reacts when she finds out Shirley is going away, calling her "brave". It exposes the fact that Gillian's life isn't as perfect as you might think, that she is also trapped, without diminishing her in the way that Marjorie's character is.

It's possible that Marjorie's outcome was a comment on how it is impossible for women, no matter how educated, to escape the fact that men see them as sex objects. But I'm not sure that is how it's portrayed.