Chuck Chuck Baby

"Helen" (Louise Brealy) wakes up in the morning in what looks like a bedsit, with a suitcase of her meagre possessions tucked under the mattress. A chubby chav walks in on her and we discover that this is, in fact, her husband "Gary" (Celyn Jones) who has banished her to the spare room so he can live with his teeny-pop girlfriend "Amy" (Emily Fairn) and their brand new baby. Needless to say, she's not an happy woman but she puts up with all of this so she can stay close to his ailing mother "Gwen" (Sorcha Cusack) who's bedridden and clearly not too long for this world. Her only real moments of joy come from her work. She works with a tightly knit group of women packing chickens. The routine mundanity of that job leads the four of them to play daft games and try to chivvy each other along to alleviate the boredom - especially on a nightshift! Then a bit of a bombshell arrives in the form of "Joanne" (Annabel Scholey). Despite a rather frosty reunion, it's obvious that there is some baggage between these two women and the rest of the film infills some of the backstory of both women augmented by some frequently laugh out loud comedy. The principal culprit of the humour is "Paula" (Beverly Rudd) - rough around the edges but with an heart of gold and some of the best lines from an entertainingly written script. The plot is fairly predictable, though auteur Janis Pugh does throw a few spanners in the works to keep it interesting, and there are some semi-musical theatre style numbers as the story occasionally uses it's decent soundtrack to advance the story - usually to epitomise the unhappiness of "Helen". It's well cast with a solid supporting effort, a tiny bit of social commentary and a rather queazy rapport between the girls and one of those plastic heads kids used to used to practice their make-up skills on. It could also serve as a pretty good advert for never eating chickens - the things these women get up to plucking these birds could put you off for ever!

Helen (Louise Brearley) lives a seemingly hopeless life with her (ex?) husband Gary (Celyn Jones) his girlfriend, thier baby and Gary's bed-ridden and dying mother (the excellent Sorcha Cusack), for whom Helen is the principal carer, and who is the only one in the house who treats Helen with any decency. Neither Gary nor his girlfriend work, and Gary takes most of Helen's wages.

Helen works in a chicken factory, and it's only her friendship with a group of co-workers that keep Helen from despair.

As an aside, if chicken factories are really like that, I'm never eating chicken again. I assume (hope?) that it was budgetary constraints that were responsible for the minimalist set.

Helen's life is thrown into turmoil by the return of Joanne, daughter of Helen's recently-deceased next-door neighbour. Helen had a lesbian crush on Joanne when they were at school together, though she never had the courage even to talk to her.

Joanne, it seems, felt the same way. Now she draws Helen out, and she experiences simple pleasures and the first moments of true happiness for many years. Now she has to decide between her old life and a potential new one.

The whole film is beautifully observed, from the dreary street that doubles as a prison for its occupants to the earthy cameraderie of the factory women. A few musical numbers are worked into the narrative, to great effect.

I went to see this with my friend and it made us cry and laugh. Just a beautiful film of love and friendship.

It was wonderful to see so many different women characters. The factory workers were really hilarious and such a gorgeous support for Helen, the main character.

The mother figure to Helen was so poignant and funny, their relationship was really heartbreaking.

The music is fantastic, I really loved the soundtrack! It is used in such a clever, unique way - I really haven't seen anything like it. It's not what you expect with people bursting into song... it's much more natural.

This really is a must watch with your friends. A beautiful, joyful and poignant film!