David O'ConnellMike Leigh's Career Girls
August 29th 2008 03:38
The title is a misleading one: this is no frivolous, glossy look at a radical rags-to-riches transformation. Rather, this interesting 1997 film is from one of the forerunners of gritty urban British drama, Mike Leigh, and though it’s more a showcase for two superb acting performances, from the late Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman, than a compelling drama, it’s never boring for a moment.
Career Girls interweaves seperate strands of time – the meeting of two unlikely friends in a seedy London flat, and ten years later in the present as they’re reunited again after 6 years apart. The surface changes are obvious but their bond of friendship may be the one thing that remains truest.
Steadman is Annie, an insecure psychology student who is struggling to overcome her dermatitis, ‘scabs’ on one side of her face, leaving her vulnerable and with nervous tics; face-to-face communication with people holds great trepidation for her because of her low self-esteem and overwhelming self-consciousness.
She finds a room-for-rent offer on a notice board and meets Hannah (Cartlidge), an aggressive, eccentric character herself with bizarre mannerisms and a propensity for sarcastic comebacks and one-liners. She’s obviously had a difficult upbringing with an alcoholic mother and no father-figure in her life. They’re both odd, endearing characters, making their third roommate Claire (Kate Byers) look boringly normal in comparison.
Over 4 years they overcome their differences however, adapting and embracing one another’s idiosyncrasies, their parting one of painful sorrow. In modern day London however their reunion is an awkward one at first as they attempt to deal with their changed circumstances and appearances – Hannah especially is a very different person on the surface, now a reasonably successful business woman, though neither has found true love, mostly because of very different philosophies about men.
Their weekend together sees many both poignant and heartbreaking memories revisited, some through coincidentally crossing paths with a couple of fleeting, but important figures from their past. Beneath their changed external selves these two friends remain steadfastly the same, the bond that allowed their friendship to flourish against the odds and trying circumstances at the time still as strong as ever, and enough, you suspect, to ensure they always remain friends.
Though obviously not as gritty as some of Mike Leigh’s ‘kitchen-sink’ domestic dramas, Career Girls is just as enjoyable, with two wonderfully natural and believable performances by Cartlidge and Steadman, the success of the film hinging on their chemistry which is established early on.
It’s an hilarious film at times too, with plenty of dry British humour and though short at only 78 minutes, we empathise with these two troubled, but strong women, as they try to continue overcoming the odds, to at least give themselves a chance at success in life, in more ways than one.
Career Girls interweaves seperate strands of time – the meeting of two unlikely friends in a seedy London flat, and ten years later in the present as they’re reunited again after 6 years apart. The surface changes are obvious but their bond of friendship may be the one thing that remains truest.
Steadman is Annie, an insecure psychology student who is struggling to overcome her dermatitis, ‘scabs’ on one side of her face, leaving her vulnerable and with nervous tics; face-to-face communication with people holds great trepidation for her because of her low self-esteem and overwhelming self-consciousness.
She finds a room-for-rent offer on a notice board and meets Hannah (Cartlidge), an aggressive, eccentric character herself with bizarre mannerisms and a propensity for sarcastic comebacks and one-liners. She’s obviously had a difficult upbringing with an alcoholic mother and no father-figure in her life. They’re both odd, endearing characters, making their third roommate Claire (Kate Byers) look boringly normal in comparison.
A happy reunion for Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) and Annie (Lynda Steadman)
Their weekend together sees many both poignant and heartbreaking memories revisited, some through coincidentally crossing paths with a couple of fleeting, but important figures from their past. Beneath their changed external selves these two friends remain steadfastly the same, the bond that allowed their friendship to flourish against the odds and trying circumstances at the time still as strong as ever, and enough, you suspect, to ensure they always remain friends.
Though obviously not as gritty as some of Mike Leigh’s ‘kitchen-sink’ domestic dramas, Career Girls is just as enjoyable, with two wonderfully natural and believable performances by Cartlidge and Steadman, the success of the film hinging on their chemistry which is established early on.
It’s an hilarious film at times too, with plenty of dry British humour and though short at only 78 minutes, we empathise with these two troubled, but strong women, as they try to continue overcoming the odds, to at least give themselves a chance at success in life, in more ways than one.
Annie and Hannah in their earlier, university days
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