Career Girls
by Mike Leigh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andy Serkis, Kate Byers, Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman, Mark BentonDirector: Mike Leigh
Cinematographer: Dick Pope
Writer: Mike Leigh
Editor: Robin Sales
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 87 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Career Girls
Movie Review: Textured, Rich, and Poignant
Summary: 5 Stars
Mike Leigh's Career Girls (1997) draws viewers out of a steady diet of inconsequential plotting and formulaic storylines. Among the more fascinating stories involve protagonists who are also antagonists to themselves and others.
Young psychology student, Annie (Lynda Steadman), seeks a place to live and answers an ad provided by Hannah (the late Katrin Cartlidge) and Claire (Kate Byers). Annie's flatmates, both reading English at the local Polytechnic school, play a divination game with an old Penguin copy of Bronte's Wuthering Heights to pass the time. Hannah, who appears to have numerous tics, possesses a rapier wit and a developed intuition while managing a stormy relationship with her alcoholic mother. Eventually, Hannah and Annie become close friends, finding between them a tighter bond as a result of shared experiences. The tough and brash Hannah protects the waif-like Annie, self-conscious as a result of a case of dermatitis, most apparent on her youthful visage.
The story, told in a series of flashbacks, pushes viewers to enjoy the narrative ride rather than piecing together what happened when. As a result, Leigh establishes his ability to tell a sophisticated and poignant story about friendship, one that lasts because their affection for one another remains when the other is no longer present. Leigh does not dwell on a sentimental storyline largely because he is intelligent enough to suggest that friendships survive as a result of a history of common joys and genuine conflicts. Annie finds herself attracted to a man, Adrian Spinks (Joe Tucker), whom Hannah is dating. Ricky (Mark Benton) suffers from unrequited love when Annie turns him down and Hannah is quick to remind her that she has no cause to decline men because of their appearance. Leigh's meditation brings us back to Aristotle's argument on friendship, that friendship between two persons exists when both are equal and care for the other's well-being. The conversation in the Chinese restaurant is particularly moving.
The DVD offers the original trailer, widescreen, and full screen format.
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