SHIRLEY VALENTINE

US/UK, 1989, 108 minutes, Colour.
Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Alison Steadman, Joanna Lumley, Bernard Hill, Julia McKenzie?, Sylvia Syms.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert.

Shirley Valentine is a tour de force for Pauline Collins, who created the character on stage in a one-woman show. The screenplay is by Willie Russell, who did the same thing for Julie Walters with Educating Rita. Lewis Gilbert directed both films.

The suburban ordinariness of Shirley's life and her husband's relentless meal routine enables audiences to identify with her feelings of being lost. A rebel at school, wife and mother in her twenties, she is nothing at 42. There are brief flashbacks with incisive portraits of her husband, snobby neighbour, poet son, feminist best friend, model schoolgirl now an expensive call-girl.

The technique of Shirley taking us into her confidence directly from the screen and her offhand witty suggestions of what we should notice means that we experience Shirley as a friend. It is from this perspective that we observe her dream come true: a holiday to Greece. The expected encounter with a romantic Greek is a mixture of cliche and infatuation. Shirley then is enabled to fall in love with being alive, to look alive and to see that there are more choices in life.

The screenplay is funny, goes in for humorously trite, yet effectively wise comments and often mocks the conventions it knows it is using. Love and the collapse of love, drab presumptions by husband, selfishness by children, courage to try something different are nicely dramatised and explored. Shirley Valentine is the kind of film that can amuse a wide number of people and, by doing so, touch them and invite them to reflect on facets of life. The excellent supporting cast includes Julia McKenzie? as the neighbour, Alison Steadman as the friend, Bernard Hill as the husband, Joanna Lumley as the call-girl, Sylvia Sims as the schoolteacher. (And there is also some satire at the expense of British tourists.)

1. An appealing comedy? One-woman play transferred to the screen? The skills of Willie Russell?

2. The English city and suburbs, the house? The contrast with Greece, the island and the sea? Musical score, songs?

3. The play and its being opened out, the use of the techniques of Shirley taking the audience into its confidence, talking directly from the screen? Characters created and opened out? How successful a transition?

4. A comedy of types, sympathy, spoof? Verbal comedy and observations, one-liners, a mixture of triteness and wisdom?

5. The style of Pauline Collins' performance: talking to the wall, taking the audience into her confidence, the flashbacks and the jigsaw pieces of her life?

6. Pauline Collins' presence and style, creating the portrait of Shirley Valentine? 42, wife and mother? Talking to the wall, cooking the tea, the eggs and chips, Joe and his meals at 6 pm, his reactions at the lateness, the absence of steak, Thursday for steak, not eating it and pushing it on her? Cooking and the occasion for flashbacks: Jillian as neighbour, going to Brussels, the big dog, eating the muesli, Shirley giving it her husband's steak? Joe as romantic and laughing, the painting and splashing each other when they were young? School, the teacher and her quizzes, Marjorie answering all the right questions, her humiliation of Shirley in public - even though she got the question right? The handing out of reports, her anger and tearing up the report? Smoking and Marjorie and the teacher? Being a rebel, spiking the souffle? The flashback to Marjorie, meeting her in the rain, taking tea in the hotel, discovering that she was a hooker? Their mutual envies? Her son, dropping out, the community, the slums, poetry in action, the kids stealing the car? Jane and her feminism, her husband the milkman, winning the trip, the preparations for the trip? Her daughter and her friends, their talk about sex? The building-up of Shirley's portrait?

7. Twenty years of married life, her age, the absence of love, the possibility of leaving Joe but nowhere to go? Her philosophy of life? Her dreams, afraid? The passport, the photos, getting the clothes, meeting Jillian in the shop and being brazen? Telling Joe in her anger? Leaving him the note on the poster?

8. Ready to go, several hours before, her daughter returning home, her tantrums, expecting her mother to wait on her, upset about the Greek holiday? Jillian coming with the robe, praising her daring? Putting on the robe and seeing herself as people saw her?

9. The trip to Greece, Jane and the man on the plane? Her place on the beach, talking to the rock? The English tourists, pity on her being alone, their loud comments about Greece, her defence of Greece and the Olympic Games and culture? Her friendship with the waiter? The walk along the beach, meeting Kostas, sitting at the edge of the sea drinking the wine? The fulfilment of her dream - and its lack of fulfilment?

10. Kostas and the Greek type, drink, his long talk about taking her on the boat, talk about sex? Her getting ready for the outing, Jane's arrival, outmanoeuvring Jane and landing her with the tourists? On the water, the swim, the nudity, the sexual encounter, Shirley feeling she was being listened to, Kostas's gentleness, the effect? Not in love with Kostas but in love with life? Jane's disbelief?

11. The result of the holiday and the encounter? The possibilities of going or staying? At the airport, Jane, Doug and Jeanette and her leaving? The return to the cafe, hearing Kostas and his spiel? Her decision to stay, the job, the English tourists and the chips and eggs, the phone calls from Joe? The build-up to Joe's visit, Kostas and his arguments about being away? Joe walking past and not recognising her? Sitting by the water and sharing? The possibilities?

12. The possibility of beginning again? What had she gained? Joe considering her round the bend, Kostas wondering about her? Regaining her sanity?

13. Joe as young, getting married, his work, the routine, chips and eggs, steak and Thursdays, throwing the meal away, his anger, the dark house, seeing the note, his bewilderment? His son attacking him for being boring? The desperate phone calls? His love for Shirley? Dressing up in a suit, going to Greece, walking with his case, walking past her, seeing how she had changed? Sitting and talking?

14. Jane, her feminist views, her husband, meeting the man on the plane, going off with him? Exasperation at Shirley?

15. Jillian and her snobby style, the dog, vegans? Her bringing her the dress after the encounter in the shop, her admiration for Shirley's daring?

16. Marjorie the model schoolgirl, her elocution, meeting Shirley, her friendliness, the tea, not being a hostess, frank about her being a hooker? The meaning of the encounter, the possible friendship?

17. The son, would-be poet, ordinary, talking to his father? The daughter and her selfishness, her room-mate?

18. The satire on English tourists, comparisons between Greece and Spain, jokes, meals, the calamari, the dancing?

19. The ordinariness of Shirley - her humour, observations, her wisdom?