Vera Drake

Theatrical Release Date: 2004 10 10 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 794043784125

Studio: New Line Home Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Adult Language]

Summary: Written and directed by Academy Award-nominee Mike Leigh and set in England during the 1950s, this movie revolves around Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton), whose unrelenting dedication to her family is well known throughout her blue-collar town. However, there are more people than her rapidly aging mother and ill neighbor who depend on Vera's care. Though abortion was illegal and, of course, widely frowned upon in the '50s, Vera sees women going through unwanted pregnancies the same as she would anyone else -- human beings deserving of treatment. With this in mind, she regularly induces miscarriages for those who need them, and her patients are consistently grateful for her gentleness and understanding. Unfortunately for Vera, the law doesn't see her as aiding those in need; they interpret the abortions as murder, as do most of the other people in her life. When Vera's activities are revealed, her family life and relationships with those around her -- including the ones she helped nurse back to health -- are put in jeopardy. Vera Drake also features performances from Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney, and Philip Davis. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Picture – Venice International Film Festival Best Actress – Venice International Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actress – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Actress – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actress – National Society of Film Critics Best Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Production Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Costume Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Makeup and Hair – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actress – New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: cc[None specified]

Vera Drake

Format: DVD

Release Date: 03/29/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 125 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Titles [4:55]
2. Dinner [3:01]
3. Reg [3:28]
4. "It's Not Funny" [2:32]
5. A Diamond [4:11]
6. "Here to Help" [7:54]
7. Lily [3:41]
8. The Dance [3:53]
9. Susan's Trouble [3:50]
10. Psychiatric Evaluation [5:05]
11. Oridinary Day [7:01]
12. "Permission to Marry Ethel" [2:09]
13. Pamela [1:36]
14. Getting to the Bottom of Things [6:54]
15. "I Know Why You're Here" [9:55]
16. Police Headquarters [8:36]
17. Vera's Statement [7:19]
18. Telling George [4:05]
19. The Magistrate [5:47]
20. "It's Wrong" [5:14]
21. Sid [4:16]
22. Christmas [3:27]
23. Guilty [3:48]
24. Epilogue/End Credits [6:22]

Josh Ralske

Filmmaker Mike Leigh generally creates such richly drawn characters and pays such attention to the intimate details of their lives that it's hard to imagine one of his films focusing on a single issue, especially not in a pedantic way. While he often engages social issues in his work, characterizations of such depth and vibrancy wouldn't seem to allow for didacticism. On the surface, Vera Drake, with its ennobling portrait of a saintly woman who performs abortions, would seem to break with this longstanding tradition in the filmmaker's work. Despite its typically strong performances, the film can easily be dismissed as feminist propaganda by those who don't share Leigh's political bent, or dismissed as a "movie of the week" by those who continually underestimate his gifts as a visual stylist, because, like John Cassavetes, he focuses so intensely on the work of his actors. One almost wishes that Vera, as magnificently portrayed by Imelda Staunton, was less angelic, and more like the brittle, deeply flawed heroines of other Leigh films, like Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) in Secrets & Lies. But when one looks more deeply at the work, it's clear that Vera, for all her charity, is a na?ve woman, completely unsuited to dealing with the negative consequences of her good intentions. Along with the complex reactions of her close-knit family, the terrified Vera's inability to defend her actions gives the film a tragic resonance. Leigh's postwar London, meanwhile, brims with life that goes on beyond the frame. The set and costume design wonderfully evoke the characters' subsistence living, and each woman Vera tends to has an individual trauma etched in her face and movements. Leigh's ability to relay that each character has his or her own unspoken narrative is powerfully cinematic, and Vera Drake easily stands alongside his best work. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Anthony O'Donnell  Actor 
Jane Wood  Actor 
Angela Curran  Actor 
Angie Wallis  Actor 
Philip Childs  Actor 
Anna Keaveney  Actor 
Jeffry Wickham  Actor 
Tracy O'Flaherty  Actor 
Lauren Holden  Actor 
Michael Gunn  Actor 
Richard Graham  Actor 
Robert Putt  Actor 
Sam Troughton  Actor 
Gerard Monaco  Actor 
Rosie Cavaliero  Actor 
Sid Mitchell  Actor 
Paul Jesson  Actor 
Alan Williams  Actor 
Billy Seymour  Actor 
Craig Conway  Actor 
Eileen Davies  Actor 
Heather Cameron  Actor 
Leo Bill  Actor 
Joanna Griffiths  Actor 
Paul Raffield  Actor 
Nicky Henson  Actor 
Billie Cook  Actor 
Lucy Pleasence  Actor 
Simon Chandler  Actor 
Nicholas Jones  Actor 
Tilly Vosburgh  Actor 
Jake Wood  Actor 
Nina Fry  Actor 
Vincent Franklin  Actor 
Tom Ellis  Actor 
Judith Scott  Actor 
Marion Bailey  Actor 
Wendy Nottingham  Actor 
Chris O'Dowd  Actor 
Vinette Robinson  Actor 
Stephan Dunbar  Actor 
Simon Channing-Williams  Producer 
Mike Leigh  Director 
Mike Leigh  Screenwriter 
Alain Sarde  Producer 
Andrew Dickson  Composer (Music Score) 
Robert Jones  Executive Producer 
Gail Egan  Executive Producer 
Duncan Reid  Executive Producer 
Imelda Staunton  Actor 
Philip Davis  Actor 
Peter Wight  Actor 
Adrian Scarborough  Actor 
Heather Craney  Actor 
Daniel Mays  Actor 
Alex Kelly  Actor 
Sally Hawkins  Actor 
Eddie Marsan  Actor 
Ruth Sheen  Actor 
Helen Coker  Actor 
Martin Savage  Actor 
Sinead Matthews  Actor 
Alan Corduner  Actor 
Lesley Sharp  Actor 
Jim Broadbent  Actor 
Fenella Woolgar  Actor 
Lesley Manville  Actor 
Sandra Voe  Actor 
Liz White  Actor 
Elizabeth Berrington  Actor 
Emma Amos  Actor 

Country: UK