Housewife, 49

Victoria Wood is a famous British comic actress who has surely shown that she also has a superior for drama - both writing and acting - in this excellent made for television film based upon a real person. During World War II in England, housewife, Nella Last's experiences were recorded by the Mass-Observation organization founded in 1937 to record the daily experiences of British citizens for social research.

The film starts with Nella as being almost complete frustrated with her role as housewife. She is a middle-aged woman who has devoted her entire self to the care of her husband and their two sons. The war has just started, and her sons are leaving to serve in duties other than combat.

Nella's only connection with anything creative is her younger son. He is the one who encourages his mother to go beyond the confines of the house in order to seek fulfillment. Nella begins to blossom when she volunteers for the Women's Voluntary Service and starts to submit her observances of daily occurrences to Mass-Observation.

Over the objections of her husband - a joiner - Nella volunteers for the WVS. There she must face the insults of the women in charge for she is merely the wife of a laborer whereas they are wives of members of higher classes. With spunk and wit, Nella forges ahead and becomes an invaluable member of the organization.

At home, Nella receives almost no support from her husband - a man not able to express emotion. Because of this weakness, he appears to be somewhat of a villain, but there are a few touching scenes in the screenplay where the viewer is able to see past his hard surface to a man who genuinely loves his wife.

Nella's son, Cliff, may be the most complex character in the film. Clifford Last who eventually entered battle was wounded and after the war, moved to Australia where he became a well-known sculptor.

This is a fine film that gives insight into the lives of women of Nella's generation and invites the viewer into an "everyday family" that is certainly far from that.

"Housewife, 49" is a remarkable film in how it captures a picture of life that commonly goes unseen. Victoria Wood, the star of the film, is quite good. She offers a performance that's very easy to get into, full of emotional complexity and human depth. I was quite impressed by David Threlfall, who plays Wood's husband here. He convincingly captures a certain generation and personality of man that you don't often see on film. Not abusive or offensive, but emotionally distance and overly self-controlled. Stephanie Cole is good, but she isn't given much to work with here. The script tends to wander a bit too much at times. The entire subplot revolving around people reading the letters seems tacked-on and ultimately unnecessary.

I'm glad I saw this. It offers up a close human insight. The TV movie format holds things down a bit, but the best is made of it. "Housewife, 49" is a good film.

As a long time fan of Ms Wood, I was very happy to watch this sojourn into the drama world. The writing contained her usual naturalistic flow, the evocation of 1940's Barrow was superb and the journey portrayed by Ms Wood as Ella was totally believable.

The subtle way in which she dealt with such issues as those raised by her son Cliff was heartening and again true of the period. Her grasp of the historical perspective, the way families lived and coped with the war was so very true and at the end of the film I was left with a sense of having witnessed real life not a drama.

Great acting from David Threlfall and Stephanie Cole.

The best thing on TV over Christmas by far!

Comidienne Victoria Wood makes a surprisingly good straight actress in this drama, which lovingly recreates the atmosphere of the 1940s. Based on the real diaries of a depressed woman unexpectedly liberated by the war, it is, however, possessed of a certain slowness and obviousness, although the individual scenes are immaculately constructed. Overall, it lacks the human depth of Mike Leigh's 'Vera Drake', another portrait of the same times, as well as that film's dramatic intent. But it's funny to see David Threlfall playing a very different, but equally useless, man of the house, following his turn as Frank Gallacher in 'Shameless'.

Nella Last's story deserved to be told even if in adapted guise long since. My greatest praise goes to Victoria Wood. As a comedian I always understood and was revived by her humour, wit and writing. But as a "so called serious actress" I was totally blown away by her performance in this. Far more so than in the delightful "Pat and Margaret". Stephanie Cole is up to her standard of excellency on this one, too and then some. The period art direction is almost flwaless. For a non-Britain it actually feels flawless...

Also: I simply adore the NOT-Hollywoodesque-nonsense ending.

Definitely 10 out of 10 for this one