WIFE. MOTHER. CRIMINAL.
Director Mike Leigh was rightfully praised for this drama set in 1950s London where we are introduced to the Drakes, your average working class family who have no idea that the wife and mother, Vera (Imelda Staunton), is about to be exposed as an abortionist. The story is simple, but Leigh has gone to great lengths recreating all the details of a place and era he has special feelings for, evoking a time when “helping young girls” was a serious crime no matter how good the intentions were. Staunton got an international breakthrough and is absolutely stunning as the ever-so cheerful and service-minded Vera Drake.
2004-Britain-France. 125 min. Color. Produced by Simon Channing Williams, Alain Sarde. Written and directed by Mike Leigh. Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran. Cast: Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Phil Davis (Stan Drake), Peter Wight (Webster), Adrian Scarborough, Heather Craney, Daniel Mays… Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan.
Trivia:Â According to Leigh, there was no script during filming; he wrote it afterwards just to be able to send it to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
BAFTA: Best Director, Actress (Staunton), Costume Design. European Film Awards: Best Actress (Staunton). Venice: Golden Lion, Best Actress (Staunton).
Last word: “Your character only knows what your character would know. So I didn’t know there were any actors playing police. I didn’t know there were any police coming. I didn’t know anything like that, as the actors in the family didn’t know what Vera did. They only found that out at the very, very end of rehearsals before we started filming. They thought they were making a film about a happy family with a lot of tea (laughing). Mike creates a situation in the rehearsal period so by the time you come to film it, you know what you’re doing. But there’s no script. You don’t write anything down. You’ve had the experience and you hold onto that. And it’s very easy to hold onto because it’s been happening almost for real.” (Staunton, About.com)
