Leigh often uses improvisation to capture his actors' unscripted emotions. When filming Vera Drake, only Imelda Staunton knew ahead of time that the subject of the film was abortion. None of the cast members playing the family members, including Staunton, knew that Vera was to be arrested until the moment the actors playing the police knocked on the door of the house they were using for rehearsals. Their genuine reactions of shock and confusion provided the raw material for their dialogue and actions.
In addition to these methods utilised by Mike Leigh, the director is also admired for his preference of English actors to Hollywood stars. This has led to criticism of Leigh as being a patroniser of the working class. However, using Dickens in his defence, he rebuts these accusations outright proclaiming that the last thing he seeks in his actors is a stereotype.
Reception
Box office
As of 9 April 2006, Vera Drake had grossed $12,941,817 at the box office worldwide, including over $3.7 million in the US.
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 93% based on 160 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "With a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion." The website Metacritic, which compiles and averages reviews from leading film critics, gave it a score of 83 out of 100 from 40 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The film has attracted some criticism from those who worked in midwifery during the 1950s. The chief concern is the method of abortion used by Vera Drake in the film. This involves using a Higginson bulb, which is a type of enema syringe, to introduce a warm, dilute solution of carbolic soap and an unspecified liquid disinfectant into the woman's uterus. This method is claimed by Jennifer Worth, a nurse and midwife in the 1950s and 1960s and author of the book Call the Midwife, to be invariably fatal. She called the film itself "dangerous", as it could be shown in countries where abortion is illegal and the method depicted copied by desperate women. In reply Leigh told interviewer Amy Raphael that Worth's criticism overlooked several factors, such as how the film undoubtedly highlights the risk of infection by exploring such misadventure as a means to ultimately curtail Drake's work and the fact that it was based on many testimonies from women who once had such abortions, thereby proving that the procedure did not "almost always" result in death.
Home media
Vera Drake was released on DVD on 29 March 2005.
Awards and nominations
- 2004 European Film Awards – won Best Actress and nominated for Best Film
- 2004 Venice Film Festival – won Golden Lion for Best Film & Volpi Cup for Best Actress
- 2004 Camerimage – won Golden Frog for Best Cinematography
- 2004 British Independent Film Awards – won Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Achievement in Production
- 2004 London Film Critics Circle Awards – won British Film of the Year, British Director of the Year, British Screenwriter of the Year, Actress of the Year, British Supporting Actor of the Year
- 2005 Golden Globes – nominated for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
- 2005 BAFTAs – won Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Costume Design. Nominated for Best Film, Best British Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay – Original, Best Editing, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup/Hair
- 2005 Academy Awards – nominated for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay
See also
- Abortion in the United Kingdom