To be slightly aghast that Shirley Valentine was only 42?

[Pjsandbaileys]

I do realise it's late 80s fiction but I'm not far off that age and don't feel middle-aged at all (except maybe in the mornings lol)most of my friends still have primary school aged children, I'm just slightly horrified when I watched it I assumed she was mid 50s lol

Oh god. I’m 40. I always assumed she was mid 50s too.

I haven't seen it (I know) and I've just turned 40. Do you think back in the 80s 40 was more like 50, and as the years have gone on we stay/portray as younger?

I am in ..I am 51 I thought maybe 60ish!

I’ve just done a google image search. Her haircut, while popular in the late 80s, would be very ageing now, so maybe that’s why we think she looks older.

I’m a bit further into my 40s/menopause. I’d love to “Do a Shirley Valentine.” I suppose in the 80s women had babies in their early 20s though.

Christ almighty. First I find out that my MP is younger than me and now this.

That's it. I'm officially old.

@tazsyd I remember my mum with that hairdo although she had a more glamorous version and "trendy" makeup and she would have been late 30s/40s I probably thought she looked ancient at the time though 😁 It's more the dowdy image and outlook on life that threw me.

At the end of the film, her perm is growing out and she's looking more youthful again. Pauline Collins was about 48/49 at the time though - change the hair and she looks great.

@dogsaresomucheasier I had my kids early 20s 😩😩 I'm by far the youngest mum in their circle of friends but bloody hell I didn't realise I should feel old!! I would love to do a Shirley Valentine too even just for a couple of months especially atm

I think the life expectancy of a woman in the uk is now 83 but has risen since the film was made so a woman of 42 would be middle aged.

Funnily enough I’ve just watched and thought how young she looks.

What???? Ok now I feel old

No.way. mind blown! I always thought 50s!

I too thought she looked young (am 56, so she was)

Blimey I didn't know she was only 42 either! 42 isn't middle-aged (I am 48 and I think I am only just approaching middle age!)

What!!!! 42

I assumed mid 50's, I'm 45 and am in complete denial of being 'middle aged', jeez

I think it was a different time and there were different societal expectations on women. As a pp said women generally married and had children in their 20s. Shirley has an adult daughter in the film. (I'm 46 and I have a 6 year old - that's not unusual these days either. )

Women once mums were generally expected to SAH or not work full time and be "housewifely". My mum thought married mums who kept themselves slim and glamorous were a bit disgraceful and vain. She thought you were supposed to have a sensible short haircut (plus perm) and wear sensible matronly clothes. She had a long list of things she thought women should not do once they had kids or reached 35. These included not wearing bikinis or having long hair.

My mum seemed very middle aged to me but looking back at those times she was quite a lot younger than I am now. (I have long hair and wear bikinis and love a bit of glam!)

She also thought doing things for yourself rather than serving your husband and children all day long was selfish and railing against your proper role in life. I disagree. So did Shirley Valentine it seems!

I think she'd been cooking and cleaning for an overbearing husband and had no life of her own for maybe 20 years, so she was ready to break out. The point is that she was young, far too young to settle for what she had. Love the film, need to watch it now!

At 42 my husbands mum would have been married 24 years. Family was completed.

I remember my favourite nan who admittedly was a sun worshipper but she was quite glam with it. She was an old lady at 55 though.

Honestly it was different times back then. A woman in her 40s was middle aged. They usually had grown up kids - like Shirley did. She looked right for the time.
Now of course 42 is still young and lots of women still having babies at that age.

Brilliant film by the way, and Pauline Collins was just fantastic!

In the 1980s it was not unusual for somebody in their 40s to be very much middle aged housewife at a loose end when the children had left home when compared to nowadays.

My mum thought married mums who kept themselves slim and glamorous were a bit disgraceful and vain. She thought you were supposed to have a sensible short haircut (plus perm) and wear sensible matronly clothes. She had a long list of things she thought women should not do once they had kids or reached 35. These included not wearing bikinis or having long hair.

My mum still thinks this. She phoned me on my 40th birthday and asked if I was finally going to get my hair cut off.

Like you say, different time.

@honeylulu you do have a point I remember my grandmother having a go at my mum for wearing jeans at almost 50 and she had a new grand daughter she should have been in a chair knitting, my mum has always been young in mind/progressive

I suppose she got married and had children quite soon after leaving school at 16 so 42 would be about right.

I did a Shirley Valentine in the 80's.I was married and went off to Spain for a week,and met up for some fun. It was great, The shame of it, I was about 42. I was looking forward to seeing the film again,as it brought back some memories.