Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Director:

Lee Daniels

Writers:

Geoffrey Fletcher (screenplay) and
Sapphire (novel)

Release Date:

3 December 2009 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Life is hard. Life is short. Life is painful. Life is rich. Life is....Precious.

Plot:

In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.

Plot Keywords:

Overweight | School | Alternative School | Self Pity | Incest Rape

Awards:

7 wins & 2 nominations

US Showtimes:

The Bridge: Cinema de lux

11:15am | 12:15pm | 1:50 | 2:50 | 4:25 | 5:25 | 7:00 | 8:00 | 9:35 | 10:35 | 12:00am

(personalize)

Cast

Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe	...	Precious (as Gabourey Sidibe)
Mo'Nique	...	Mary
Paula Patton	...	Ms. Rain
Mariah Carey	...	Mrs. Weiss
Sherri Shepherd	...	Cornrows
Lenny Kravitz	...	Nurse John
Stephanie Andujar	...	Rita
Chyna Layne	...	Rhonda
Amina Robinson	...	Jermaine
Xosha Roquemore	...	Joann
Angelic Zambrana	...	Consuelo
Aunt Dot	...	Tootsie
Nealla Gordon	...	Mrs. Lichtenstein
Grace Hightower	...	Social Worker
Barret Helms	...	Tom Cruise (as Barret Isaiah Mindell)

Also Known As:

Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire (USA) (working title) (USA) (working title)
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (USA) (new title)

MPAA:

Rated R for child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language.

Runtime:

110 min | Canada:109 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | Dolby SR | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45477) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Lee Daniels Entertainment

Trivia:

Over the course of the shoot the production lost an editor, a cinematographer, three continuity people, three locations managers, two producers, two assistant directors, two sound people, two video playback people, and two caterers.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the field trip, an image of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protest is visible. This happened several years after the movie, which is set in 1987.

Quotes:

Mrs. Weiss: [Angrily] You just sat there, shut up, and let him abuse your daughter.
Mary: [Hysterically in tears] I did not want him to abuse my daughter! I did not want him to hurt her! I didn't want him to do nothing to her!
Mrs. Weiss: [Overlapping with Mary's voice] But you ALLOWED him to hurt her! You did!
Mrs. Weiss: But, those... those things she told you I did to her? Who... who... who else was going to love me?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Access Hollywood: (2009-09-25)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Humpin' Around

Unreal Reality

"My name is Clareece Precious Jones. I want to be on the cover of a magazine. I wish a had a light-skinned boyfriend with good hair. But first I want to be in one of those BET videos."

Precious in the film of the same name is 16, black, overweight, a mother of 2 children by her father, lives in Harlem, and dreams of music videos and a white boyfriend. This powerful slice of poor life seems unremittingly real and when juxtaposed with reality TV, downright authentic.

It's not difficult to see why this deeply affecting character study won top prizes from Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto: Its star is a new talent so immersed in her role that to think of her not being Precious is almost impossible, even for a cynic like me. Proficient with his second film, director Lee Daniels guides diva Mariah Carey into a role as an unforgettably underplayed social worker.

For an educator such as I, the classroom scenes at an alternative school where Precious prepares for the G.E.D are inspiring glimpses of how small classrooms with a gifted, patient teacher (Paula Patton as Ms. Rain) can transform the lost causes into productive citizens. Those scenes and the ones in the hospital where Precious delivers her second child are but brief unreal dreams in their own way of the love that may wait for Precious later in life—not now because her abusive mom still appears and tortures Precious in different ways (skillfully acted by comedienne Mo'Nique).

When Precious sees the endearing relationship her beloved teacher has with her partner, she exclaims, "They talk like people in TV shows that I don't watch." It's a brave, new world for her and a sobering joy for us to vicariously suffer and delight with a character whose weight might symbolize the heavy and complicated world that she may never be able completely to escape .