Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0024543191018
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 06, 2005
Running Time: 87 minutes
Sales Rank: 76615
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: August 08, 1997
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Reunited six years after graduation, two unlikely college roommates take a funny and poignant look at the girls they were and the woman they have become.
Amazon.com:
This simple comedy by British filmmaker Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies) concerns the reunion of two women friends from university days who try hard, although awkwardly, to rediscover their early closeness. They succeed beautifully and experience a series of chance encounters with old friends and lovers whom they once knew together. Katrin Cartlidge (Breaking the Waves) and Lynda Steadman are outstanding, playing their characters via flashback in their grungy, early 20s as well as their more polished, contemporary selves at age 30. Following the complex ambitions of Secrets and Lies, Career Girls almost looks like a holiday for Leigh, but it is no less the rich product of his now-famous process of symbiotic rehearsal and writing. The film is also graced by some of the most delicate passages of remembered love between two people seen in a long time. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Bittersweet
After his volcanic, emotional, wonderful "Secrets and Lies," Mike Leigh decided to keep it simple and straightforward, at least on the surface, with this film "Career Girls." On closer inspection though, "Career Girls" is equally as emotionally open and character driven as its predecessor of just one year before.
"Career Girls" is a film of recollection and remembrance: not always fond nor happy but like all recalled events and relationships one filled with equal parts pride, regret and embarrassment. Hannah ( an equally whacked out and serene performance by the now deceased Katrine Cartlidge) and Annie ( a twitchy, depressed yet also thoughtful and emotionally vulnerable performance by Lynda Steadman..." a walking open wound" as described by Hannah) meet again six years after college having been room mates during most of their college years. They were friends, confidants and shared early lives of hurt and despair. They never quite connected though as college room mates, mostly because they were damaged having been mortally wounded by childhood and therefore wary of all commitments. But now, they are mature seemingly successful women and as such recall events of the past with a sly understanding of each other and of the events that helped shape their current lives.
Bittersweet is a word that comes to mind while I watched this movie again also having seen it in the theaters some 10 years ago. At a particularly poignant dinner in a Chinese Restaurant, Hannah and Annie reveal all the stuff ... Read More
Rating: - A Gem
This is one of those little known films that will really grow on you if you give it a chance. It seems like we learn a little more about the characters everytime we watch it!
If you're looking for a few more that fall into this catagory, I recommend, Smoke Signals, Japanese Story, Shall We Dance (The ORGINAL Shall We Dance, not the god awful remake), That's The Way I Like It, and Star Wars (Just kidding)
Rating: - Those Who Knew Us Back In The Day
Career Girls is about a weekend spent between two old college roomates who finally reunite after 6 years apart. Both shared a flat in London during University before moving out after graduation. One stayed in the city and another moved into the country but they continued to exchanged letters to maintain contact. Although they change into career girls on the outside their reunion is spent reconnecting just how the same as always they may be on the inside. It's film depicting the passage of youth, the endurance of friendship, our true selves that never go away, and just how much fun two can have with Ms. Bronte's books as an oracle. I do agree with another reviewer about the flashbacks circa the 80's ... and the music on the soundtrack. Hard to believe it is now over 20 years since that era! No matter what ... the cliche is true ... the more things change the more they stay the same.
Rating: - Textured, Rich, and Poignant
Mike Leigh's Career Girls (1997) draws viewers out of a steady diet of inconsequential plotting and formulaic storylines. Among the more fascinating stories involve protagonists who are also antagonists to themselves and others.
Young psychology student, Annie (Lynda Steadman), seeks a place to live and answers an ad provided by Hannah (the late Katrin Cartlidge) and Claire (Kate Byers). Annie's flatmates, both reading English at the local Polytechnic school, play a divination game with an old Penguin copy of Bronte's Wuthering Heights to pass the time. Hannah, who appears to have numerous tics, possesses a rapier wit and a developed intuition while managing a stormy relationship with her alcoholic mother. Eventually, Hannah and Annie become close friends, finding between them a tighter bond as a result of shared experiences. The tough and brash Hannah protects the waif-like Annie, self-conscious as a result of a case of dermatitis, most apparent on her youthful visage.
The story, told in a series of flashbacks, pushes viewers to enjoy the narrative ride rather than piecing together what happened when. As a result, Leigh establishes his ability to tell a sophisticated and poignant story about friendship, one that lasts because their affection for one another remains when the other is no longer present. Leigh does not dwell on a sentimental storyline largely because he is intelligent enough to suggest that friendships survive as a result of a history of common joys and genuine ... Read More
Rating: - DVD is on the Way!!!
Good news Mike Leigh fans, this movie is now scheduled to be released on DVD on September 6, 2005 according to Amazon!!
The movie is an excellent one. Sometimes (unjustly) considered one of Leigh's lesser works it functions both as comedy and drama as it looks at the reunion of two friends from college several years after they have graduated and have been trying to find their niche in the world. Told in a series of flashbacks and in present time it shows how he characters have grown over time while many of their vulnerabilities remain.
A must for any and all Mike Leigh fans.
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