Women Talking Dirty

Women Talking Dirty is a 1999 British comedy film directed by Coky Giedroyc and starring Helena Bonham Carter and Gina McKee. It is an adaptation of the novel Women Talking Dirty, written by Isla Dewar; who also wrote the screenplay. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 17 September 1999[1] and released on 7 December 2001 in the UK.[2] The screenplay concerns Cora, an aspiring biochemist and struggling single mother. She and Ellen, a shy divorced cartoonist, strike an unlikely friendship amidst their own personal betrayals and secrets.

Women Talking Dirty
DVD cover
Directed byCoky Giedroyc
Produced byDavid Furnish
Written byIsla Dewar
Based onWomen Talking Dirty
by Isla Dewar
Starring
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • 7 December 2001 (2001-12-07) (UK)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million (estimated)

Plot

Cora (Helena Bonham Carter) and Ellen (Gina McKee), two women in their thirties, are living in Edinburgh. While they are getting ready at a mirror they begin to discuss life and romance. The story then catapults itself into the past before the two women met and where their story really begins.

Quirky Cora is an aspiring biochemist with intention to go to university but ends up taking a jump towards late teenage rebellion in which she tries drugs and drinks excessively. After moving in with her boyfriend, Cora discovers she's pregnant and is eventually dumped by him.

Ellen on the other hand is strait-laced and level-headed; a budding cartoonist with prospects to run her own business alongside her colleague Stanley (James Nesbitt). While out for a drink at her local pub, womanizing Daniel (James Purefoy) makes a pass at her and she is instantly smitten. She invites him to meet her very prim and proper mother who is instantly reviled by Daniel's revelation that he is writing a dissertation on the post-coital discussions women have with men after sleeping with them. Despite her mother's attempt to talk Ellen into dumping Daniel, Ellen accepts his marriage proposal and soon weds him, delighted with his wedding gift of a purple velvet Victorian style couch.

Not long into their marriage, Ellen's hopes of having a family are dashed when Daniel reveals he doesn't want children. In fact, Daniel is still womanizing and gambling excessively (even stealing money from Ellen's purse). After a confrontation with him, Ellen walks out and goes to the pub to think things over. There she meets a heavily pregnant Cora. Despite their obvious differences, they immediately become friends and Ellen even becomes Cora's coach as she goes into hospital to give birth to her son Sam.

A year and a half later, Cora's parents offer to babysit her kids. She goes to the pub and calls Ellen, hoping to convince her friend to join her. Daniel, however, picks up the phone, as Ellen is out. Daniel shows up at the pub where he deliberately and successfully seduces Cora, fully aware that she doesn't know what he looks like. After the one-night stand, Cora is horrified when Daniel turns up at the café where she works and kisses Ellen in front of her. Even more horrifying is the realization she has become pregnant once again, this time with her best-friend's husband. Although Cora decides to keep the child, Daniel decides he wants nothing to do with her, and refuses to even pay maintenance, leaving Cora once again a single mother with no additional income.

Years pass, and Ellen and Daniel are going through a rather messy divorce which is left slightly easier by the fact he has taken off to Barbados. Regardless of the hurt he has caused her, Ellen is still in love with him and still fully unaware that her best friend's youngest son Col is the son of her husband. Cora, on the other hand, is struggling with life still, and is still depressed over the guilt she feels. She has never been able to reveal to her friend the truth of her son's paternity. After Daniel's return, Cora realises that she is running out of time to tell Ellen the truth, and all of her friends and neighbours who know her secret urge her to be honest.

While throwing a dinner party at her loft home, Ellen, Cora and some close neighbours become blindingly drunk, and Cora finally confesses the truth at the dinner table. Humiliated, Ellen throws everyone out including Cora, and locks herself in her flat for days, becoming horribly depressed over the fact Cora had the son with Daniel that Ellen had always wanted. Daniel returns to Ellen following the dinner party and finds immediately that he is unwelcome and Ellen doesn't want anything to do with him anymore. In the meantime, Cora develops a relationship with Ellen's co-worker, Stanley, and, after a near-death experience, begins to feel more confident within herself and about what she wants from life. Finally she works up the courage to go to Ellen and apologise.

Regardless of their row, they manage to come to a mutual understanding just as Daniel bursts into the flat with a friend to remove the couch he had given Ellen as a wedding present. An argument between the women and Daniel ensues, resulting in Ellen forfeiting the couch and throwing both men out. Immediately afterwards, Ellen retrieves a bag from a cupboard that contains £25,000 that Daniel had won from gambling and stashed in the flat. Ellen splits the money, giving £13,000 of it to Cora to pay the maintenance Daniel had never paid for Col, and taking the remaining money to the bookmakers where she bets the lot on a no-chance horse. Seconds after leaving the bookmakers, Daniel confronts her, having realised his mistake and demanding his money back. Ellen hands him the betting slip and walks away with Cora, having finally gotten her revenge on him.

Cast

Reception

Women Talking Dirty has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 77% score from 2 reviews and they are both "fresh".[3]

Marie Claire described the film as "One of the best British films of recent years... Bonham Carter is hilarious". Jamie Russell of BBC gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and added "Women Talking Dirty is an above average relationship drama. It benefits enormously from the chemistry between its two female leads and an excellent supporting cast...".[4] William Thomas from Empire gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated "One of those films which will keep perfectly well until the video release, but if you've seen everything else, you could do a lot worse than give this one a go".[5]

References
  1. "Women Talking Dirty (1999)". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  2. "Women Talking Dirty (1999) Release Info". IMDb. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  3. "WOMEN TALKING DIRTY". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  4. Women Talking Dirty (2001). BBC.
  5. Women Talking Dirty Review. Empire.
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