Our Ladies | |
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Directed by | Michael Caton-Jones |
Written by |
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Based on | The Sopranos by Alan Warner |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Denis Crossan |
Edited by |
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Music by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $533,232 [1] |
Our Ladies is a 2019 Scottish coming-of-age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Michael Caton-Jones, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alan Sharp, based on Alan Warner's 1998 novel The Sopranos . The film stars Tallulah Greive, Abigail Lawrie, Rona Morison, Sally Messham, Marli Siu, and Eve Austin. [2] [3]
Our Ladies premiered at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. Its original theatrical release date of 6 March 2020 was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before finally being released in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2021.
This section needs an improved plot summary.(December 2023) |
In 1996, five best friends attend a strict Catholic school for girls in the Scottish Highlands town of Fort William. They get the opportunity to go to Edinburgh for a choir competition, but they are more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning the competition. The group includes Orla, who is in recovery from leukemia and has an attitude of living life to the fullest; Finnoula, a brainy girl who is desperate to experience life beyond her small town; Chell, a wild child struggling with the loss of her father; Manda, a sharp-tongued, witty girl; and Kylah, a musical protégé with a rebellious spirit.
Michael Caton-Jones optioned Alan Warner's novel The Sopranos in 1998. It was announced in 2018 that production on a film adaptation had begun. Caton-Jones directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Alan Sharp. The film was produced by Sigma Films, Sony Pictures International Productions, and Four Point Play Pictures in association with Screen Scotland. Warner himself and Jennifer Armitage of Creative Scotland executive produced and Caton-Jones produced alongside Laura Viederman of Four Point Play and Brian Coffey of Sigma. Luke Scrase oversaw the film for SPIP. [4] [5]
Principal photography took place on location in Fort William and Edinburgh. [6] Some scenes were also filmed in Glasgow. [7]
The world premiere of Our Ladies was held at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival on 4 October. [8] It was also shown at the 2020 Glasgow Film Festival on 28 February. [9] A trailer was released in January 2020. The film was initially set for theatrical release in the UK on 6 March 2020, which was then delayed to 24 April and subsequently 11 September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before being shelved indefinitely. [10] [11] It was released at select AMC Theatres in the United States on 18 June 2021, [12] and in cinemas in the UK on 27 August. [13]
The film received critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 93% based on 29 reviews with an average rating of 7/10. The consensus states: "Despite its outdated ideas about teen sexuality, Our Ladies presents a well-acted and affectingly nuanced portrait of female friendship." [14]
Amal Abdi of the Evening Standard wrote, "One of the best features of Our Ladies is the distastefulness of its characters. This posse of unruly young women are brash, bullies and often magnificently cruel. Yet it is precisely these reasons that make the film more radical than offensive. By playing into the stereotypes, Our Ladies rejects the established portrayals which turn ordinary school girls into bad asses or inexplicable geniuses in the name of a 'strong female character.'" [15] Abdi commented further, "Our Ladies has its flaws. The tone is uneven, it is overly eager and there are points when it is unrealistic to the point of absurdity. Nevertheless, it deserves to be seen. It speaks to the thinly veiled misogyny that has long governed the treatment of young women." [15]
Sophie Butcher of The Film Magazine said, "there’s a raucous energy and seemingly specifically Scottish nostalgia evident in Our Ladies that really set it apart", and concluded "Our Ladies is a wildly entertaining riot of a movie." [16]
Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark, John Clark, and Amanda MacKinnon, formed in 1994. The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "black iron skyline", a lyric from the song "Twilight of a Champion" by The The.
Claire Patricia Grogan, known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as for supporting roles in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl and the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf as the first incarnation of Kristine Kochanski.
Alan Warner is a Scottish novelist who grew up in Connel, near Oban. His novels include Morvern Callar and The Sopranos – the latter being the inspiration for the play Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour and its subsequent film adaptation, Our Ladies.
William Tulloch Paterson is a Scottish actor with a career in theatre, film, television and radio. Throughout his career he has appeared regularly in radio drama and provided the narration for a large number of documentaries. He has appeared in films and TV series including Comfort and Joy (1984), Traffik (1989), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), Wives and Daughters (1999), Sea of Souls (2004–2007), Amazing Grace (2006), Miss Potter (2006), Little Dorrit (2008), Doctor Who (2010), Outlander (2014), Fleabag (2016–2019), Inside No. 9 (2018), Good Omens (2019), Brassic (2020) and House of the Dragon (2022). He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Scottish BAFTAs.
Joseph McFadden is a Scottish actor, best known for his roles in The Crow Road,Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, Heartbeat and Holby City. He won the 2017 series of the BBC One series Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Katya Jones.
Michael Caton-Jones is a Scottish director and producer of film and television. His credits include the World War II film Memphis Belle (1990), the romantic comedy Doc Hollywood (1991), the biographical drama This Boy's Life (1993), the historical epic Rob Roy (1995), the action thriller The Jackal (1997) and the erotic thriller sequel Basic Instinct 2 (2006). He also directed the Channel 4 miniseries Brond (1987) and World Without End (2012).
The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) broke away to form the SWPL in 2002. SWPL 2 was introduced in 2016.
The Sopranos is a 1998 novel by Scottish writer Alan Warner. It won the Saltire Society's 1998 Scottish Book of the Year Award.
Hibernian Women's Football Club is a women's football team based in Edinburgh that plays in the Scottish Women's Premier League, the top division of women's football in Scotland. They were officially integrated as a department of Hibernian F.C. in 2022, having previously been linked less formally via their community foundation, using the club's training facilities and colours.
The Stars in the Bright Sky is the sixth novel by Scottish writer Alan Warner. First published in 2010, it is a follow-up to his 1998 book The Sopranos. The earlier novel followed a group of Catholic schoolgirls from a bleak town in the west coast of Scotland on a disastrous day trip to Edinburgh to participate in a national choir competition. The Stars in the Bright Sky returns to most of these characters three years later, and presents an account of their attempt to arrange a holiday abroad.
Events from the year 1957 in Scotland.
Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a play based on the 1998 novel The Sopranos by Alan Warner, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. It received its world premiere at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2015, before embarking on a short UK tour. The play is a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre. The production ran at London's National Theatre in August 2016 and was scheduled to transfer to the West End's Duke of York's Theatre in May 2017.
Tallulah Greive is an Australian-born Scottish actress. She is known for her roles as Orla in Our Ladies, Princess Gwen in Cinderella and Lauren in Millie Inbetween.
Jenna Josephine Fife is a Scottish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Rangers W.F.C. in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) and for the Scotland national team.
Abigail Lawrie is a Scottish actress. She won a Scottish BAFTA for her performance in the Sky Atlantic crime drama Tin Star (2017–2020). Lawrie made her screen debut in the BBC miniseries The Casual Vacancy (2015).
Marli Siu is a Scottish actress. Her films include Anna and the Apocalypse (2017), Our Ladies (2019), and Run (2019), the latter of which won her a Scottish BAFTA. On television, Siu has appeared in the spy thriller Alex Rider (2020–2024) and the BBC drama Everything I Know About Love (2022).
Brond is a 1987 British three-part drama television series made by Channel 4, based on the novel of the same name by Scottish author Frederic Lindsay. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starred Stratford Johns, John Hannah in his first television role, Louise Beattie and James Cosmo.
Rona Morison is a Scottish actress and narrator. She played Chell in Our Ladies in 2019 and Thompson in Absentia in 2020.
Adura Onashile is a British actor, playwright, and director. She wrote and directed the 2013 play Expensive Shit and adapted it into a film in 2020.
Frances Mayli McCann is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her work in theatre. She is the recipient of Laurence Olivier and WhatsOnStage Award nominations.