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

Director:

Lee Daniels

Writers (WGA):

Geoffrey Fletcher (screenplay)
Sapphire (novel)

Release Date:

20 November 2009 (USA)

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:

Pregnant | Alternative School | School | Kitty Litter | Hiv

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 70 wins & 55 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Gabourey Sidibe	...	Precious
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	...	Socialworker
Barret Helms	...	Tom Cruise (as Barret Isaiah Mindell)

Also Known As:

"Precious" - Australia (imdb display title), International (English title) (informal short 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:

Canada:109 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45477) | UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:15 | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:11 | Finland:K-15 | Portugal:M/16 | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Japan:R15+ | Denmark:11 | Mexico:B15 | Singapore:M18 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Dyckman Street Subway Station, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Lee Daniels Entertainment

Trivia:

Helen Mirren was originally cast as Mrs. Weiss, but dropped out. Mariah Carey was chosen as a replacement by director Lee Daniels only two days before the film went into production. Daniels has stated that he chose Carey based on her performance in Tennessee (2008), which he produced.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Precious is in the office with the principal talking about her pregnancy, her yellow sweat jacket's zipper keeps changes positions up and down.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Clareece 'Precious' Jones:[voiceover] My name is Clareece "Precious" Jones. I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair. And I wanna be on the cover of a magazine. But first I wanna be in one of them BET videos. Momma said I can't dance. Plus, she said who wants to see my big ass dancing, anyhow?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "De wereld draait door: Episode #5.69" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Come into My House

Powerhouse Performances Tower Over a Harrowing Yet Enthralling Tale of Redemption

To my surprise, this soul-baring 2009 drama is neither as painful nor depressing as the subject matter would imply. In fact, director Lee Daniels' treatment alternates so fluently between gritty realism, social uplift, and fanciful episodes of fantasy that the end result is as much enthralling as it is emotionally draining. First-time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher does a solid job adapting the 1996 source novel by Sapphire, "Push", but the strength and honesty of the cast is what sears in the memory. Daniels could have been otherwise charged with stunt casting had he not drawn out such powerhouse work from the out-of-left-field likes of comedienne Mo'Nique and pop diva Mariah Carey. Granted Daniels in his second directorial effort is not the most subtle of filmmakers (his first film was the strangely exotic "Shadowboxer"), but he does bring a level of florid passion that the subject desperately needs to alleviate the unrelenting bleakness of the title character's existence.

Set in Harlem in 1987, the story centers on sixteen-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones, a morbidly obese girl so void of self-worth that she refers to herself without irony as "ugly black grease to be washed from the street". Nearly illiterate, she finds herself pregnant for the second time by her father, and the school principal arranges to enroll Precious at an "alternative" institution. She recognizes this as an opportunity to better herself, but her mother Mary discourages it and forces Precious to apply for welfare. The unenviable mother-daughter relationship is the crux of the film, and it is here the film gives an unblinking account of monstrous physical and psychological abuse that explains the sharp contrast between Precious' inner and outer lives. On the outside, she is a forlorn yet formidable presence with a face so full that she can't express emotion without a great deal of effort. On the inside, she is loved and admired unconditionally. The two slowly come together at Precious' new school where she finds acceptance and redemption through a dedicated teacher (improbably named Blu Rain), who must get through to a classroom full of girls all disadvantaged in their own ways.

The birth of Precious' son, along with the bonding she feels at school, signals a harrowing showdown between mother and daughter and ultimately a confrontation between Mary and Mrs. Weiss, the no-nonsense social worker who seeks the truth behind Precious' home life. In the title role, Gabourey Sidibe is ideally cast given the film's semi-documentary approach. An untrained actress, she is able to elicit empathy by giving herself completely to the inchoate character, and when Precious breaks down from the weight of yet another seemingly insurmountable development, Sidibe gives the scene a halting honesty. Paula Patton ("Swing Vote") gets to play the Sidney Poitier role of the elegantly transformative teacher as Ms. Rain, but she gives the too-good-to-be-true character a palpable sense of passion. As Mrs. Weiss, a role originally slated for Helen Mirren (who co-starred in Daniels' "Shadowboxer"), Mariah Carey, bereft of her glistening make-up and diva mannerisms, brings an audacious toughness to her smallish but pivotal role.

However, it is Mo'Nique ("Phat Girlz") that gives the film's most shattering performance. I don't know what emotional reservoir she is tapping into, but she nails Mary with a fury so startling and realistic that it's impossible to trivialize the source of her villainy. She never compromises the hardness in her character, and her self-justifying monologue is an impressive piece of work. There is also solid work from a couple of other unusually cast performers, comedienne Sherri Shepherd (of the morning TV talkfest "The View") as a tough school administrator aptly named Cornrows and Lenny Kravitz as a sympathetic male nurse, and a scene-stealing turn from Xosha Roquemore as the ebullient Joann ("My favorite color is florescent beige"). Not all of Daniels' left-turn devices work, for instance, using Sophia Loren's "Two Women" as the basis of one of Precious' fantasies seems contrived given only a die-hard cineaste would understand the connection. Regardless, it's no wonder that Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry put their stamp of approval on the film as executive producers since Precious ultimately finds a personal triumph despite the hard life has dealt her.