by Baby Clyde
These days Driving Miss Daisy’s multiple wins for the 1989 film year are seen as a low point in Oscar history. Not only that the film itself is often criticised for its naïve take on race relations, but especially because 32 years later movie goddess Michelle Pfeiffer is still without a Best Actress award. Whilst no one critizes Jessica Tandy’s performance the win is viewed as a career award for someone who’s film career didn’t warrant one. Combine this with Pfeiffer losing for what is probably her most legendary part and no one’s happy. Especially me as I don’t sign up to either of those interpretations!
In my eyes there is only one possible winner in this contentious race...
I'm talking about the woman who’d already won numerous other awards for her iconic role in a film that immediately became a classic (in my part of the world). A film that my mum has watched a dozen times. I doubt she even knows what The Fabulous Baker Boys is. I’m of course talking about Pauline Collins' warm, winning, hilarious performance in Shirley Valentine a film which whilst mostly forgotten around the world but considered a stone cold classic here in the UK. It was a massive hit. The 2nd biggest grosser of the year after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; It beat Batman back into third place! It was a British cultural phenomenon inspiring a flurry of think pieces about how middle aged women were viewed in society. Millions of women around the country felt like they were being given voice. A whole generation can quote the dialogue and "Shirley Valentine" has become shorthand for any middle-aged woman who enjoys a holiday romance.
The 1989 romantic comedy tells the story of the titular Shirley Valentine. A 42 year old housewife whose marriage to Joe (Bernard Hill) has grown stale and whose life lacks purpose now that her children have left home. Tired of talking to the kitchen wall and cooking her husband egg and chips she gets an offer for an all-expenses paid trip to Greece from her brash friend Jane (Alison Steadman). Gaining confidence from a chance encounter with an old school friend and surprise encouragement from a snooty neighbour she leaves on the two week trip, only to be abandoned by Jane. Shirley is forced to fend for herself in the unfamiliar environment. It won’t surprise you to learn that she blossoms and with the help of a fling with local bar owner Costas (Tom Conti) learns a lot about who she is and who she wants to be.
I watched this with my brother on Christmas Day. We’d both agreed beforehand, having not seen it since the 90’s, that it probably hadn’t aged well. We were wrong.
Shirley Valentine remains an absolute delight. Funny and touching with that particular brand of British humour that’s very hard to explain and almost certainly lost on many people from other cultures (It was written by Willy Russell of Educating Rita fame). It has to be performed by a certain kind of actor who understands the exact pauses, inflections and timing. Luckily, Pauline Collins, who had originated the role on stage understood this perfectly. I’m probably biased but I would give her that 1989 Oscar in a heartbeat.
Despite already winning the Olivier, Tony and BAFTA for the role and being nominated for a Golden Globe, on the night she lost to another Brit, Jessica Tandy who had moved to America 50 years before and was not at all well-known name to British audiences. Pauline Collins, on the other hand, was a National Treasure.
At this point she’d been a familiar face on British TV for 25 years. It was her role in the smash hit drama Upstairs Downstairs that made her a star. Often appearing with her actor husband John Alderton she’d been in everything from sitcoms and children’s programmes to TV plays and even Doctor Who. The one place you didn’t expect to see her was in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Shirley Valentine is currently streaming on both Hulu and Amazon Prime