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

@thatmustbenigelwiththebrie

I don't think women were expected to stay at home in the 80s! My mum certainly didn't, she worked full time, as did all the mums I knew. It wasn't the 1950s.

But Shirley's children are already grown-up in the fillm. She'd have been a young mother in the early 1970s - or even earlier - and it was definitely the norm for women not to work then.

I remember when trying to understand the characters on 'Mad Men', I'd sometimes think when they might have been born and what age they'd be if they were real people alive today. So Shirley would probably have been born in the mid 1940s and if she were alive today, would be in her early 70s.

I think that puts some perspective on it - she grew up in a very different time and women 'aged' faster then. Expectations were different - once you were married you were expected to tone down your looks and aim at looking mature and 'respectable', even if you were only in your 20s. Plus, as someone said above, the whole point is that she looks a bit frumpy and downtrodden even by the standards of a 40 something woman of the day. Compare her to Joanna Lumley who was also in her 40s then but looks very glam.

Anyway, great film. One of my favourites. "Well, tickle my tits 'til Friday!"

She would have got married young end of the 60s as a lot of working class girls did. That is kinda the point of the film.

I thought she was older but she does look early 40s

Presumably they married young which was typical then

Great film

It'd be interesting to see a photo of Pauline Collins as herself in the 1980s and in character. I expect the hair and make up is very different.

Pauline Collins is now 79

Pauline Collins was 49 in the film (even though the character is 42). That seems about right to me.. I’m currently 42 and yes, mathematically speaking, there is no escaping the fact that I’m middle aged.. even if I don’t feel it!

@mrsjayy and looks amazing too!!!

My point really wants how old she looked (my mum definitely didn't dress like that as a sahm in the 80s in her 40s) it was more the mindset is how dowdy and downtrodden she was at ONLY 42 I'm that age have pretty much grown up children and do not feel like I am at that stage of "middle age" yet. I know I am in the middle stage of my life but don't feel it 😌 I love the film was just a bit oh dear when I realised we were of the same age hehe

I saw it in the 80s when I was in my early 30s. It didn't apply to me or anyone I knew. I thought she'd be in her 50s, or maybe even a little older. Actually, I thought it was a bit of a dumb film and dismissed it from my mind. I'd forgotten all about - even that it existed! - until I saw this thread.

It was just another bit of fluff, over-hyped.

Haha I said exactly the same thing when I watched it the other night!! I can't believe she's only 42 😵 I'm 41 and seriously don't feel middle aged yet!!

Different times. When I was 42 my son was 21.

I always assumed she was mid-fifties too.

Mind you, DS today: 'Did you know the National Theatre give you discounts on seats until you are middle aged?'
Me: 'No they don't.'
DS: 'They do. Says here 'until you are 25'.'

I saw a clip of it not so long ago and along with obviously being bowled over at how brilliant her performance was, pondering on how genuinely pretty Pauline Collins is in that movie. Her haircut is very much of its time though, and would retrospectively age her. I remember seeing it when it first came out a billionty years ago and presuming, as all youngsters do, that I would never look older than twenty. Doubt I could even put an age on Shirley Valentine at the time. Anybody over 25 was unthinkably ancient.

My mum was In her late 30s when that came out she had the perm and looked"dowdy" she had me at 19 so by the end of the80s she probably felt dowdy.

I'm not surprised.I really relate to her character as I married at 21 and my kids were grown up by the time I was 'her' age. I was a grandmother at 45. Things were different then if you didn't go to university. It wasn't unusual to leave school at 16, get a job in a shop/office/factory/wherever, meet someone and settle down. If I relate it to my mum's life, I would have definitely seen her as middle aged as she was 40 when I was 20.

Yeah its quite shocking. Think of JLo for example- she's 50 and pauline collins in that film looks like she could be her mother!

Definitely think its all about styling and the the era. Even watching old films, young people in their 20s looked 40 due to the way they dressed/ hairstyles etc.. I wouldnt get too hung up on it, you dont have to be old before your time!

There is no escaping that 42 is middle-aged sorry.

And i never realised Nina Conti was his daughter.Learn something new everyday

Ha I thought the same when I watched it earlier. She’s only 5 years older than me, but seems much older.

I think back then it did seem old. I remember my mum at that old and it seems totally different to women in their 40s and 50s now. People are much more youthful for longer these days in terms of hair, make up and fashion as well as just general outlook.

The actress was 49 though and in those days (pre botox etc) actresses looked their age as much as anyone else.

Interesting looking at pictures of "young Shirley" played by Gillian Kearney (who some of you may remember from Brookside). She is one of those women who doesn't age - she looks the same as she did when she was on Brookside in about 1986!

If you'd asked me to guess I would have said 50.

Can't believe she was only 42 filming that. It was a great film.

The men looked older too. Thathuge mousstache onher husband added ten years.

I always saw it as both of them had become ground down by the day to day and lost themselves. They were old before their time. Once she went abroad she found herself again, looked younger and much happier.

I always remember thinking first time I watched it that she was the same age as my mum, who was very different. I suppose then though to me she did seem old, whereas I am approaching 40 myself now and still feel like a useless teenager.

It's similar to watching the Golden Girl's when I was in my late teens and early twenties. They were women in their fifties, which I am now. The fashion was rather aging back then. My mother, at the age I am now, would never have had shoulder length hair and wear jeans like I do.

Shut. The. Front. Door.

@KetoWinnie

If you'd asked me to guess I would have said 50.

Can't believe she was only 42 filming that. It was a great film.

The men looked older too. Thathuge mousstache onher husband added ten years.

That's the character's age, but the actress, Pauline Collins, was 49 when the film was made.