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Review: Mrs Henderson Presents
"Sexual intercourse began in 1963..." Philip Larkin tells us, and it's kind of true, isn't it? We tend to think of the older generations as hopelessly Victorian and conservative. My own grandparents actually were. I imagine if Granddad had ever seen the kind of fiction I write it would have given him a stroke. Come to that, so might this movie. I saw it on DVD this weekend when I was too sick to do anything else and I've just got to tell you all how great it is!
Mrs Henderson Presents gives a very different impression of the generation of my grandparents: the generation which lived through two world wars. It's based on true events, but not well known true events, so unlike Titanic you don't know the end before the opening credits, and in this movie, it wouldn't really matter if you did.
Judi Dench (always wonderful) plays the full-of-life Mrs Henderson. She is a wealthy widow who buys and renovates a Soho theatre because she's bored and wants a hobby. Having sunk a lot of money into the rebuilding she hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to manage the place and together they turn it into the scandal of the London theatre scene...and a roaring success.
The Windmill Theatre was the first in Britain to present a "non-stop" revue. Not 24 hours a day, which is what "non-stop" would mean today, but constant performances during open hours, so that the customer could buy a ticket and come into the show at any point in the schedule, and leave at any point, too. The movie shows the preparations for this ground-breaking show, and it's a great success. Until all the other theatres copy the idea. This is when Mrs Henderson proposes putting on a nude show.
This wasn't 21st century Las Vegas. It was 1930's London. And nudity on stage wasn't merely revolutionary: it was unheard of. Not to mention illegal. But Mrs Henderson persists and - in a truly hilarious scene - she persuades the Lord Chancellor to grant her theatre a license to put naked girls on her stage. Under certain conditions, of course. The big condition is that the nude girls cannot move. At all.
Naturally, the nude show was a huge hit. During the Blitz, the Windmill was the only theatre that remained open. It was very popular with the troops (naturally...).
But all of that is really just the background, not the movie plot. What this film is really about is the characters. Mrs Henderson, feisty and wicked, caring and human - you can see how much fun Judi Dench had with the role. Van Damm - Bob Hoskins is at his best and the character is a real theatre character. You know, all the cliches, but they work. Will Young plays Bertie, the gay singer, Kelly Reilly shows both dignity and a great sense of fun as Maureen, one of the nude "models". And so on. There isn't a poor performance in the lot.
It's all about how these people come together and change each other's lives, in most cases for the better. The central relationship is the one between Mrs Henderson and Van Damm, and the tension between them is frankly sexual. That's another reason to love this movie: it doesn't shy away from allowing a woman so old to have a sexuality, to express - albeit with 1930s subtlety - sexual feelings.
Mrs Henderson is rich and spoiled, careless, occasionally bigoted and rude. She could so easily be an unlikeable character but she's not. You can't help admiring her guts.
This is mostly a fun film. It's a comedy: not the laugh-out-loud kind or the slapstick kind, but there are some great moments. The Lord Chancellor's picnic. Bertie explaining that he's gay. The first audition for the nude show ("Well, look at their faces!"). The time someone puts a mouse on the stage to see the girls scream and run... The 30's music hall has been flawlessly recreated and if the music has a more digital sound quality than you'd expect for a theatre of the day, well that's so much the better. But it's a human story, too, with moments slipping into the carefree comedy that remind you life has tragedy as well: the son Mrs Henderson lost in World War 1, the greater tragedy of World War 2, and the way it touches everyone's lives.
Anyone who watches this one for the naked girls is likely to be disappointed. Oh, there are naked girls, but it's all very tasteful, very carefully done. But if you want a fun comedy musical, delightful characters and a fantastic period movie, Mrs Henderson Presents is well worth a watch.
Mrs Henderson Presents gives a very different impression of the generation of my grandparents: the generation which lived through two world wars. It's based on true events, but not well known true events, so unlike Titanic you don't know the end before the opening credits, and in this movie, it wouldn't really matter if you did.
Judi Dench (always wonderful) plays the full-of-life Mrs Henderson. She is a wealthy widow who buys and renovates a Soho theatre because she's bored and wants a hobby. Having sunk a lot of money into the rebuilding she hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to manage the place and together they turn it into the scandal of the London theatre scene...and a roaring success.
The Windmill Theatre was the first in Britain to present a "non-stop" revue. Not 24 hours a day, which is what "non-stop" would mean today, but constant performances during open hours, so that the customer could buy a ticket and come into the show at any point in the schedule, and leave at any point, too. The movie shows the preparations for this ground-breaking show, and it's a great success. Until all the other theatres copy the idea. This is when Mrs Henderson proposes putting on a nude show.
This wasn't 21st century Las Vegas. It was 1930's London. And nudity on stage wasn't merely revolutionary: it was unheard of. Not to mention illegal. But Mrs Henderson persists and - in a truly hilarious scene - she persuades the Lord Chancellor to grant her theatre a license to put naked girls on her stage. Under certain conditions, of course. The big condition is that the nude girls cannot move. At all.
Naturally, the nude show was a huge hit. During the Blitz, the Windmill was the only theatre that remained open. It was very popular with the troops (naturally...).
But all of that is really just the background, not the movie plot. What this film is really about is the characters. Mrs Henderson, feisty and wicked, caring and human - you can see how much fun Judi Dench had with the role. Van Damm - Bob Hoskins is at his best and the character is a real theatre character. You know, all the cliches, but they work. Will Young plays Bertie, the gay singer, Kelly Reilly shows both dignity and a great sense of fun as Maureen, one of the nude "models". And so on. There isn't a poor performance in the lot.
It's all about how these people come together and change each other's lives, in most cases for the better. The central relationship is the one between Mrs Henderson and Van Damm, and the tension between them is frankly sexual. That's another reason to love this movie: it doesn't shy away from allowing a woman so old to have a sexuality, to express - albeit with 1930s subtlety - sexual feelings.
Mrs Henderson is rich and spoiled, careless, occasionally bigoted and rude. She could so easily be an unlikeable character but she's not. You can't help admiring her guts.
This is mostly a fun film. It's a comedy: not the laugh-out-loud kind or the slapstick kind, but there are some great moments. The Lord Chancellor's picnic. Bertie explaining that he's gay. The first audition for the nude show ("Well, look at their faces!"). The time someone puts a mouse on the stage to see the girls scream and run... The 30's music hall has been flawlessly recreated and if the music has a more digital sound quality than you'd expect for a theatre of the day, well that's so much the better. But it's a human story, too, with moments slipping into the carefree comedy that remind you life has tragedy as well: the son Mrs Henderson lost in World War 1, the greater tragedy of World War 2, and the way it touches everyone's lives.
Anyone who watches this one for the naked girls is likely to be disappointed. Oh, there are naked girls, but it's all very tasteful, very carefully done. But if you want a fun comedy musical, delightful characters and a fantastic period movie, Mrs Henderson Presents is well worth a watch.
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I brought the DVD for my mum because of Will Young and really need to get my own copy.
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