Chicas de calendario

One of the most delightful films of recent years, `Calendar Girls,' a distaff version of `The Full Monty,' is the true story of a group of middle-aged English women who became international celebrities when they designed and posed for a nude fundraising calendar that sold millions of copies worldwide. Julie Walters and Helen Mirren head a wonderful cast, with Walters as a woman whose husband dies of leukemia and Mirren as her best friend who comes up with the idea of the calendar as a way of both honoring his memory and raising money for the local hospital.

The risk for any `feel good' comedy is that it will become cloying, coy or cutesy. Luckily, `Calendar Girls' boasts an enormously witty screenplay and first-rate performances by its highly gifted cast. Each of the `girls' is given her own unique personality so that we see them not just as a group, united in this inspiring endeavor, but as individuals working through their own personal demons on the rode to the project's completion. The women face the expected roadblocks and snafus in the form of `shocked,' disapproving voices in the community, but their belief in the rightness of their cause brushes all such problems aside.

This charming film provides more genuine, out-and-out laughs than almost any comedy of recent times. `Calendar Girls' is heartwarming, touching and inspiring – and what more could one ask from a `feel-good' film than that?

Did you know what makes the difference between "Art and Pornography"? Well it´s the artist. This was one of the stroking scenes of the film "Calendar Girls". This film is profundly moving and even more because it is based on a true story. The women of the W.I club somewhere in Yorkshire are famous for plum jam and speeches on different household or gardening items which are mostly quite tedious. The situation changes by the time the husband of Annie (Julie Walters)suffers from leukemia and can´t get through. Annie´s best friend Chris (Helen Mirren)comes up with the idea of a nude calendar with the women of the W.I. club to raise money for a settee at the leukemia ward at the local hospital. At first everybody is quite suspicious but the calendar turns out as a tremendous success which brings the girls even to Hollywood.

I have rarely ever seen such a heart-warming and inspiring film. This movie makes you laugh and cry almost at the same time. (My favourite scene was the one with the oregano-joint ;-).) As most British comedies the actors were fabulous and the jokes did not seem constructed like they do in most Hollywood productions.

This film is a hymn for all middle aged women. It shows the world that 40+ women can look great even when they are nude. "The women of Yorkshire are like the flowers of Yorkshire in the last state of their lives they look best."

This film is highly recommendable for everybody even if you just want to see the beautiful landscape of Yorkshire.

Based on a true story, eleven members of a women's institute group decide to pose nude for a rather untraditional annual calendar to raise money for charity.

With an all star cast lead by Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, we go on a journey through the ridicule and resistance that the ladies had to endure to achieve this amazing feat, which ultimately raised millions.

Calendar Girls is brilliantly performed and directed, and it has many heart wrenching tales that lie beneath the main story, each pertaining to the girls own reasons and drives to fight for what eventually became a mammoth success.

Heart Warming, Funny, Charming and Entertaining, undoubtedly a winner on every level.

8/10

Although I prefer the older films of the forties and fifties, I was quite touched by this one. Beautifully filmed in the "ee by gum" country of Northern England ( and with the sun, to boot ), this was a real pleasure for the eyes. I went to school in Lancashire so many of the sights were familiar to me ( though this was Yorkshire ) but the countryside is similar and apparently less wet than Lancashire, being to the east of the Pennines. The theme of the film was an interesting one and shows that you don't have to be young to be sexy - I found all our ladies very sexy and the calender had very good taste - it was delightfully erotic and not pornographic at all. The film reminded me of Billy Elliot ( also made in Ee by gum country ) but I liked that less and Full Monty which I found far less interesting. Like French Cinema, British Cinema nowadays doesn't produce many lively and interesting films - that prize falls to the Americans - but just once in a while, a little gem is produced ( other examples are Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral ). calendar Girls was just such a gem and I was very happy to discover it. I was also pleased to see Annette Crosbie from "One Foot In The Grave" whom I adore as an actress as I do Julie Walters whom I found most attractive in Educating Rita and who seems even lovlier in Calendar Girls. Bravo !

If you said to me that I'd enjoy a heart-warming tale about a group of stripping housewives from Yorkshire then I'd probably direct you to my current DVD collection, which includes such "heart-warming" films like "Desperado", "Predator" and "Die Hard". To put it bluntly, stuff like that normally turns me right off. So imagine my surprise to find myself genuinely enjoying this film which has a winning formula of gentle humour, a strong ensemble cast and, although I hate to say it, a heart-warming ending. And yes, it's another British film with people taking their clothes off. "The Full Monty" has a lot to answer for!

"Calendar Girls" is set in a branch of the Women's Institute in northern England where best friends Anne (Julie Walters) and Chris (Helen Mirren) tire of the relentless tirade of boring speeches and endlessly singing "Jerusalem". After her husband dies of leukaemia, Anne resolves to raise some money with Chris by producing an unusual version of the W.I. calendar. Having gathered enough support, they shoot a nude calendar and despite the reluctance of the W.I. leadership, the calendar's roaring success quickly brings fame and fortune to the women. But success isn't all it's cracked up to be, testing the relationships of the women with their families as well as each other.

I already felt that "Calendar Girls" was the sort of film that would fit in perfectly in the TV schedules on a quiet Sunday night when nothing else was on but I'm pleased to say that I greatly underestimated this film. True, it is a gentle film that rarely threatens to be controversial or the sort of thing that would upset your Granny. But the performances of the strong cast mean that the plot, based on a true story, never fails to captivate your attention. It's a perfect blend of tragedy and comedy and ultimately, that's the sort of thing that the film's audience is looking for.

On the flip side, I did feel it went on for too long and there were still aspects of the story that weren't fully explored such as the impact on Helen Mirren's son (John-Paul Macleod) or what happens to the women after the publicity died down. The ending also felt strangely rushed and was a bit of a letdown. Perhaps with better writing and pacing, this could have been an absolute classic but "Calendar Girls" is still a film very much worthy of your attention. It's not as saucy as "The Full Monty" but it is a simple, unassuming film with modest aspirations that manages to be a roaring success. It's a hidden gem of a film and perfect to give to your Granny for her birthday.