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Movies / Upcoming / Vera Drake
Vera Drake

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Vera Drake (2004)

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Reviews Counted:153

Fresh:141

Rotten:12

Average Rating:7.9/10

Consensus: With a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion.

Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $3,627,889

Synopsis: Mike Leigh produces another devastating masterpiece with the heartbreaking VERA DRAKE. Imelda Staunton is the title character, beloved wife of Stan (Phil Davis) and mother of Sid (Daniel Mays) and... Mike Leigh produces another devastating masterpiece with the heartbreaking VERA DRAKE. Imelda Staunton is the title character, beloved wife of Stan (Phil Davis) and mother of Sid (Daniel Mays) and Ethel (Alex Kelly). Vera spends her days cleaning houses for money and looking in on elderly and sick neighbors out of the kindness of her heart. She even attempts to be a matchmaker for her daughter, inviting a lonely neighbor, Reg (Eddie Marsan), to see if he might be a perfect match for the introverted Ethel. But Vera performs another duty that her family doesn't know about, one that is deeply frowned upon by society. When tragedy befalls a young client of Vera's, the truth comes out, forcing her family to see their mother in an entirely different light. Staunton gives a towering performance and, in typical Mike Leigh fashion, the story, characters, and script were built from a grueling and intricate improvisation process, resulting in a film that burns with heart-wrenching sincerity. Rather than take a heavy-handed approach towards his controversial subject matter, Leigh heroically remains non-judgmental, delivering an achingly humanistic drama that will linger with audiences long after they leave the theater. [More]

Starring: Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Peter Wight, Eddie Marsan

Starring: Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Peter Wight, Eddie Marsan, Adrian Scarborough, Sally Hawkins, Ruth Sheen

Director: Mike Leigh

Director: Mike Leigh
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Producer: Simon Williams, Alain Sarde
Composer: Andrew Dickson
Studio: Fine Line Features

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Reviews for Vera Drake

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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With its outstanding, soul-baring central performance by Imelda Stauntan, it’s a memorable film that painstakingly creates a truthful and often painful reality.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/03/05
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: CHUD | comment Comment
02/27/09
Devin Faraci
Devin Faraci
CHUD

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
12/27/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

In a hopelessly polarized debate, Leigh allows us to see real people involved in real situations. The film will keep people on either side of the abortion debates talking.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
11/10/06
Stefan Ulstein
Stefan Ulstein
Christianity Today
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Word "great" doesn't do justice to what Imelda Staunton delivers with her performance.

Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/04/05
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
Draxblog Movie Reviews

Staunton lends the role of Vera a great emotional complexity, eschewing any facile moral response to the social and sexual issues at the heart of the film.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
06/21/05
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Imelda Staunton delivers an indelible performance as a woman with a frighteningly simplistic idea of the world and how to live in it.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
06/20/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Moralmente complexo, está longe de representar uma experiência 'satisfatória' para o espectador, que sairá emocionalmente esgotado do cinema. Isto o engrandece ainda mais.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/13/05
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

La película confirma a Mike Leigh como uno de los mejores representantes del cine británico, y a Imelda Staunton como una de sus mejores actrices.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
05/07/05
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

Puts a tender human face on this explosive subject.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

Vera Drake succeeds because Leigh is not interested in sloganeering but in looking at the human and moral cost.

Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema | comment Comment
04/13/05
Mark Pfeiffer
Mark Pfeiffer
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/05/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Despite an occasionally hampering pace, Vera Drake is worth [it] because of its impeccably conceived and acted characters and the moral quagmire they present us with.

Full Review Source: european-films.net | comment Comment
04/05/05
Boyd van Hoeij
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net

Imelda Staunton, a noted British stage actress, gives the best performance of any actress I have seen in the last few years.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/29/05
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

There are few topics that generate more controversy than abortion, yet Mike Leigh's film seems wholly uninterested in courting debate.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment 1 Comment
03/27/05
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Leigh takes time to show us the daily lives of all characters, giving them more reality than a Hollywood film would think necessary.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
03/11/05
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for Vera Drake

February 19, 2009: Georgia Groome - Fresh Talent on RT
She was 13 when she made her big screen debut in Paul Andrew Williams' affecting drama London to Brighton, and drew stellar notices from critics as a young victim of child... More...

February 03, 2009: RT Interview: Golden Globe Winner Sally Hawkins
After winning Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, the Golden Globes, and a score of critics' circles for her ebullient performance in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky,... More...

April 10, 2007: Imelda Staunton Talks About How to Play a "Potter" Villain
It's probably not all that flattering when you're hired to play a character who's described as "short, ugly, and toadlike," but that won't stop British actress Imelda... More...

February 03, 2006: Potter Part 5 Gets Production Underway
Principal photography will commence February 6 at England’s Leavesden Studios on "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film adaptation of J.K.... More...

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