Women Talking Dirty (1999)

Director:

Coky Giedroyc

Writers:

Isla Dewar (novel)
Isla Dewar (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 October 2001 (Czech Republic)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Behind every great woman... is her best friend

Plot:

A lively, outspoken single mother in Edinburgh, Scotland, develops an unlikely friendship with a shy cartoonist. |

Plot Keywords:

Single Mother | Edinburgh Scotland | Friendship | Cartoonist | Scotland

Cast

Helena Bonham Carter	...	Cora
Gina McKee	...	Ellen
Eileen Atkins	...	Emily Boyle
Kenneth Cranham	...	George
James Nesbitt	...	Stanley
James Purefoy	...	Daniel
Ken Drury	...	Bill O'Brien
Julien Lambroschini	...	Claude
Barbara Rafferty	...	Janine
Elaine C. Smith	...	Irene O'Brien
Richard Wilson	...	Ronald
Freddie Highmore	...	Sam
Bertie Highmore	...	Col
Steve Street	...	Man in flash car
Jackie Balfour	...	Midwife

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15 | Spain:7 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company:

Jean Doumanian Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When the blue Sofa is being removed from the apartment towards the end of the film, it is obvious when outside the building that the cushions the money is meant to be hidden under are removed to make it lighter to carry.

Soundtrack:

Sofa Love

Soapy and engaging Scottish bohemiana

Immediately recognisable as a 90's picture (where angst is quaint and cute and alternative lifestyles are tender and heroic), this is a witty and engaging record of a time and a place, as well as a touching observation on issues I presume are of great resonance to women.

If you'll allow me (a bloke) to make this gross generalisation: it seems there are two types of women in the world - those who blithely and automatically have babies and those for whom the obstacles to having babies are life's major dilemma. This film brings together the two types nicely, showing how each (inevitably) brushes up against the other, but who, despite their different personalities, are just as equally in great sympathy with each other.

I baulked at the thought of Londoner Helena Bonham Carter playing a wee Scottish punk character - any movie with affected accents are usually a disaster zone - but she pulled it off brilliantly and has gone up several notches in my estimation as a result. She caught the vivacity and wittily fatalistic character of Cora very amusingly - not least in the scene where she searches on her hands and knees for food in the fridge in front her two young children, or where she runs hysterically shoeless through the streets, pursued by her pending boyfriend, to whom, when he finally catches up with her outside her door, she says "thanks for walking me home".

Along the way there are some pleasantly whimsical (90's style) friends and neighbors, plus Purefoy's beautifully balanced charming/despicable rake. The whole is atmospherically packaged in chilly autumnal Edinburgh, and the film ends up nicely too in a way appropriate for each character.

Anyone with an interest in people and human situations (because these people are reasonably valid) should like this film. Have an open mind and you'll enjoy this.