Celia Imrie Movies
Patrick Stewart stars as Ebeneezer Scrooge in this made-for-TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic holiday fable. Scrooge is a skinflint businessman who loathes the Christmas season and begrudges having to give time off to his best employee, Bob Cratchit (Richard E. Grant). On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his late friend and partner, Jacob Marley (Bernard Lloyd), who in the afterlife has come to see the error of his ways. Marley arranges for Scrooge to be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Joel Grey), Christmas Present (Desmond Barrit), and Christmas Yet to Come (Tim Potter) in hopes of teaching Scrooge of the importance of embracing the joy of the holiday season. A Christmas Carol was produced for the TNT cable television network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, (more)
- 1994
Based on author Ruth Rendell's novel of the same name, A Dark Adapted Eye follows the jealous and arguably insane path of the domineering Vera Hillyard (Celia Imrie), whose obsessive need to control her sons (the older is prone to demonstrating decidedly aggressive behavior, the younger may or may not be legitimate) and daughter plays a prominent role in her own undoing. Meanwhile, her manipulative sister, Eden (Sophie Ward), ultimately provokes Vera into what the community believes to be the deliberate murder of a child. Directed by Tim Fywell, the film also features Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Durr, Guy Witcher, and Robin Ellis. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Bonham Carter, Celia Imrie, (more)
- 1995
At a posh public-relations awards show, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) guzzles champagne with Patsy (Joanna Lumley), bosses Bubble (Jane Horrocks) around, chats up supermodel Naomi Campbell, and prepares to take home a prize. She's beaten to the punch, however, by Claudia (Celia Imrie), her pretentious, politically correct professional arch nemesis. Commiserating later at home with Saffy (Julia Sawalha), Mother (June Whitfield), and Pats, Eddy reveals that she had rigged the awards in her own favor, thus rendering her defeat even more ignominious. Terrified that she'll lose her tenuous hold on her career, Edina creeps into Claudia's celebrity liposuction-a-thon in hopes of bagging Campbell for one of her own celebrity events. Later, at an industry luncheon, she loses her prepared remarks but gives a drunken speech anyway, slagging off the PR industry's parasitical piggy-backing on noble causes such as environmentalism. Eddy's rallying cry against doom-and-gloom marketing -- "Cheer up, because it might not bloody happen!" -- becomes a sensation, and soon she's bagging new clients right and left. Meanwhile, Saffy gets hot and heavy -- for her, anyway -- with Gerard (Simon Stokes), her college psychology lecturer. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on April 27, 1995, Absolutely Fabulous: Jealous marked series three, episode four of this popular Brit-com. Campbell guest-stars as herself in a send-up of the inane schemes to which hangers-on constantly subject the supermodel elite. Although she doesn't appear on camera, real-life singer Lulu, who is supposedly Edina's biggest client, can be heard announcing one of the PR awards. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 2001
Edina (Jennifer Saunders) suffers a professional crisis while Patsy (Joanna Lumley) begins menopause in the final episode of Absolutely Fabulous series four. After Bubble (Jane Horrocks) accidentally emails Eddy's address book to rival PR impresario Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie), Eddy's client roster is reduced to Twiggy -- until even the waifish supermodel abandons ship. Soon even Edina's new TV partnership with Katy Grin (Jane Horrocks) is in question, and Eddy must think on her feet if she wants to retain any sort of career. Meanwhile, Patsy's brittle bones begin cracking like matchsticks, and it's up to Saffy (Julia Sawalha) to educate her about menopause and osteoporosis. Saffy organizes a Menopause Anonymous meeting to help Patsy and Eddy get in touch with their inner crones; Bo (Mo Gaffney) crashes, adding her distinctively New Age touch to the proceedings. Ultimately, hormone patches effect strange changes in Patsy's behavior, leaving Saffy with horrific visions of a lifetime spent caring for the old hag. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on October 5, 2001, Absolutely Fabulous: Menopause marked series four, episode six of this popular Britcom. Celia Imrie reprises her role as Claudia Bing from Absolutely Fabulous: Jealous. "AbFab" script editor Ruby Wax, a longtime collaborator of writer/star Jennifer Saunders, plays one of the menopausal masses; Wax previously guest-starred in Absolutely Fabulous: The End as one of the snooty New York fashion editors who snubs Patsy. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, (more)
- 1992
In this film, Barbara, a middle-aged woman living in Edinburgh in the present, is overwhelmed by memories of Greta, her long-dead mother from the 1930s to the 1950s. Flashbacks show the girl with her poetess mother in Edinburgh and the Orkney Isles. Her mother was fascinated by the sea which would later claim her life. In the present, one of her long-time friends is a well-known artist, and Barbara begins to rekindle strong ties with him when they meet at a gallery showing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Shepherd, Celia Imrie, (more)
Based on Helen Fielding's hugely popular novel, this romantic comedy follows Bridget (Renee Zellweger), a post-feminist, thirty-something British woman who has a penchant for alcoholic binges, smoking, and an inability to control her weight. While trying to keep these things in check and also deal with her job in publishing, she visits her parents for a Christmas party. They try to set her up with Mark (Colin Firth), the visiting son of one of their neighbors. Snubbed by Mark, she instead falls for her boss Daniel (Hugh Grant), a dashing lothario who begins to send her suggestive e-mails that soon lead to a dinner date proposition. Daniel reveals that he and Mark attended college together, during which time Mark had an affair with his fiancée. When Bridget finds Daniel cavorting with an American colleague, she decides to change her life with a new job as a TV presenter. At a dinner party, she bumps into Mark again, who expresses his affection for her; when Daniel claims he wants Bridget back, the two fight over who deserves her affections the most. Popular British performers Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, and Shirley Henderson appear in the supporting cast. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, (more)
- 2004
- R
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Based on author Helen Fielding's sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason picks up four weeks after the original film left off, with Bridget (Renée Zellweger) emotionally satisfied at long last with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), her barrister boyfriend. Stability in Bridget's life, however, quickly becomes a contradiction in terms. Though Mark is openly supportive of Bridget's eccentricities -- and there are many -- she is nonetheless threatened by Mark's young, nubile intern, not to mention irked at finding out that he is, among other less desirable qualities in her eyes, a conservative voter. Complicating issues further is the reentrance of her ex-lover, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), whom Jones, perhaps mistakenly, thought she had finally gotten over. Before long, the situation escalates into another series of embarrassing circumstances for Bridget, who is faced once again with a crippling feeling of self-doubt and has only her diary and friends to combat it. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, (more)
Nigel Cole directs the feel-good comedy Calendar Girls, based on the true story of a group of working-class British housewives who became overnight celebrities by posing for a nude calendar in order to raise more than 500-thousand pounds for a new leukemia unit. The film follows the adventures of best friends Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) and Annie Clarke (Julie Walters), both members of the charitable Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire. After Annie's husband John (John Alderton) succumbs to leukemia, the friends are motivated to take some action. They convince the group to craft a tastefully nude calendar featuring the usual ladies' activities of gardening and baking, as photographed by the young amateur Lawrence (Philip Glenister). Despite the disapproval of the Institute's leader Marie (Geraldine James), the calendar quickly becomes a best-seller and leads the group to Hollywood. Ciaran Hinds appears as Chris' husband Rod Harper. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, (more)
Produced for British television, Daniel Deronda was adapted from George Eliot's final novel, written in 1874 (and first filmed in 1921). As was her habit, Eliot laid bare the hypocrisy and venality of Victorian-era "class culture," at the same time admitting that a certain amount of conformity was necessary if one hoped to survive in a world where nonconformity was not only looked down upon but actively suppressed. Essentially, both the novel and the TV presentation are comprised of two separate stories, linked together by the titular Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy), a young man of Jewish heritage. In the main narrative, Daniel is attracted to the spoiled, headstrong Gwendolen Harleth (Romola Garai), who is reluctantly poised to enter into a marriage of convenience with the wealthy, snobbish, and intensely anti-Semitic Henleigh Grancourt (Hugh Bonneville). This romantic intrigue is played against the curious relationship between Daniel and the Zionist visionary Mordecai (Daniel Evans), who tirelessly proselytizes in favor of a permanent homeland for the Jewish people. Things come to a head when Daniel finds himself falling in love with Mordecai's sister Mirah (Jodhi May). Originally telecast in three parts on the BBC beginning December 7, 2002, Daniel Deronda was re-edited as a two-parter for the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre, where it first aired on March 30, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning novel of love and betrayal amidst the Soviet Revolution is given a new interpretation for the small screen in this made-for-television adaptation. Yury Zhivago (Hans Matheson) is a young man who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Anna and Alexander Gromeko, (Celia Imrie and Bill Paterson) after his father takes his own life as a result of the machinations of his corrupt business partner, Victor Komarovsky (Sam Neill). As Zhivago grows to manhood and studies to be a physician, he falls in love with his cousin Tonya (Alexandra Maria Lara), but one day he sees a beautiful woman and immediately becomes deeply infatuated. Zhivago learns that the woman in question is Lara Guishar (Keira Knightley), whose mother is the lover of Komarovsky. Eventually, Zhivago marries Tonya, and Lara weds Pasha Antipov (Kris Marshall), a passionate Bolshevik. As World War I breaks out, Zhivago once again crosses paths with Lara, who has become a combat nurse and is searching for her missing husband. After Zhivago is severely wounded, Lara nurses him back to heath, and along the way the two fall deeply in love. However, after the end of the war, the reality of Zhivago's marriage to Tonya puts a halt to their romance, and the explosive impact of the Soviet Revolution changes the shape and character of the land they knew, especially when Lara discovers that her husband is not dead, but has become a powerful and calculating leader of the new regime. Doctor Zhivago had its American debut on the acclaimed PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keira Knightley, Hans Matheson, (more)
The Groan family has led the people for years from their castle, Gormenghast. Although a new heir, Titus Groan, has just come into the world, a scheming kitchen boy, Steerpike, begins an elaborate attempt to take control. Surprisingly Steerpike faces his stiffest competition from the usually mild-mannered Titus, the Earl of Goran. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Damien O'Donnell's Heartlands stars Michael Sheen as a man on a mission. Colin (Sheen) is a simple man who is stunned to learn that his wife has taken up with the captain of his dart team. Upon learning that the two are headed to a big dart competition in Blackpool, Colin hops on his moped and pursues her. Along the way he meets an assortment of colorful individuals. Eventually, Colin is given the chance to confront his wife and her lover. Heartlands was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Sheen, Mark Addy, (more)
With the ultimate throw-down, "There can be only one," Highlander captured the imaginations of fantasy fans seeking a well-executed swordplay epic, becoming a cult classic in the process. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is one of a waning few survivors of a clan of immortals. The breed have been dueling each other for centuries in the quest to be the last one remaining, and hence achieve a supreme enlightenment that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. The immortals can only die by decapitation, so they hunt each other through time and across continents to meet for each decisive duel, which will bring one of them a step closer to ultimate power. In present-day America, the troubled hero MacLeod lives a brooding and lonely existence, having lost his true love centuries ago. The evil Kurgan (Clancy Brown), an immortal who plans to use his power toward unspeakable ends, has fought MacLeod before but is still trying to finish him off. After emerging victorious from a parking garage skirmish with the third-to-last immortal, MacLeod knows that only Kurgan is left, and the two are on a collision path toward the inevitable. In the film's numerous flashbacks to the past, Sean Connery plays Ramirez, the immortal who first tutors MacLeod after the hero survives a mortal battle wound, prompting his fearful village to banish him. Roxanne Hart plays MacLeod's modern-day love interest, who tries to help him while struggling to believe his incredible story. The director's cut runs four minutes shorter. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, (more)
Perhaps inspired by the success of biopics like Shine and Amadeus, this film based on a true story -- and a book (entitled A Genius in the Family) -- also focuses on the destructive forces of being a musical genius. Hilary and Jacqueline du Pré are gifted sisters who grow up in England in the 1950s and compete for musical accolades and love. Hilary (Rachel Griffiths) is a talented flutist, but it's her younger sister, Jackie (Breaking the Waves' Emily Watson), who is the musical "genius" cellist. The film follows their sibling rivalry in musical competition and romance. Though extremely close as children, it is younger sister Jackie who eventually becomes the international star, marrying top pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Hilary marries her true love, Kiffer Finzi (David Morrissey), and settles in a beautiful country home with her two children. But who is jealous of whom? Hilary receives an unexpected visit from Jackie, asking her sister for a chance to live a normal life and to sleep with Kiffer. Later, Jackie suffers from multiple sclerosis, and the sisters strive to repair the emotional damage of their long-standing rivalry. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, (more)
In this British exploitation film, an elderly husband and wife begin torturing young women whose behavior offends their puritan sensibilities. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
A new bride finds she's tempted to leave her husband under circumstances she never anticipated in this romantic comedy-drama. Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Heck (Matthew Goode) are longtime sweethearts who have decided to take the plunge and get married, but on the day of their wedding, while Rachel is walking down the aisle, she finds herself struck by the beauty of Luce (Lena Headey), who has been hired to do the floral arrangements for the ceremony. While Rachel thinks little of this at first, she finds she can't get Luce out of her mind, and when Rachel invites Luce over to dinner in hopes of fixing her up with Coop (Darren Boyd), Heck's best friend and best man, she learns the lovely florist is a lesbian. When Rachel and Luce meet again while shopping, they strike up a friendship that deepens into something more, until Rachel declares her attraction to Luce -- and Luce reveals she feels the same way. Rachel has never had a relationship with a woman before, and while she's fallen deeply in love with Luce, she isn't at all sure of what to do next, and Heck soon realizes something has gone wrong in their marriage. Produced under the title Click, Imagine Me & You was the first directorial credit for screenwriter Ol Parker. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, (more)
- 1995
- R
When his professional career hits a lull, an actor attempts to revitalize his career by staging a production of Hamlet, directed by and starring himself. Director and star Kenneth Branagh would in fact release his own film version of Shakespeare's classic play a year later, but this comedy provides his fictional counterpart with far less in terms of production value. Lacking money and time, he recruits a rather motley group of drunks, incompetents, and oddballs, including a middle-aged female impersonator in the crucial role of Queen Gertrude. Given only three weeks of rehearsal, and an abandoned church in a remote town in the English countryside, this unlikely group nevertheless struggles valiantly to make theatrical magic. The film attempts to pay loving tribute to the madness that surrounds the staging of a play, with all of the backstage dramas, inevitable disasters, and unexpected triumphs, but the end result is often less amusing than it ought to be. The film was released in the United States under the title A Midwinter's Tale. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Maloney, Richard Briers, (more)
The first British TV version of Nancy Mitford's autobiographical novel Love in a Cold Climate was telecast in seven hour-long installments in 1980. This 2001 version attempted to crystallize Mitford's long and labyrinthine narrative into a mere 150 minutes, and for the most part it succeeded. Set during the period from 1929 to 1940, the story (which also incorporates elements of another Mitford novel, The Pursuit of Love) largely takes place in an English country estate presided over by Matthew Radlett (Alan Bates), for whom the word "eccentric" must have been coined. When she isn't being "hunted" by her zany uncle for sport, Matthew's niece Fanny (Rosamund Pike), who serves as narrator, looks on compassionately while her cousin Linda (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh) and her friend Polly (Megan Dodds) desperately seek out worthwhile and decent husbands, only to be thwarted at every turn by deceitful, duplicitous, dissolute, disagreeable, and otherwise unsuitable young swains. First telecast by the BBC on February 4, 2001, Love in a Cold Climate was shown in America as a two-part installment of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre on February 11 and 18, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Rosamund Pike, (more)
The first feature by director Peter Cattaneo since his award-winning British smash hit The Full Monty, Lucky Break is another comedy in the same mold, this time taking place in prison. Small-time crooks Jimmy (James Nesbitt) and Rudy (Lennie James), after years of no success, decide to pull a bank job, where they are both captured and incarcerated. Jimmy is then transferred to Long Rudford, run by the steely security chief Perry (Ron Cook). Jimmy again runs into Rudy (whom he left to take the initial rap) and shares a cell with Cliff (Timothy Spall), a portly man prone to depression. The prison warden, Mortimer (Christopher Plummer), is heavily into Broadway musicals and offers Jimmy an opportunity to stage his long-unproduced work, "Nelson: The Musical," which Jimmy will use as a means to bust out of the prison. After working hard on the new tuner, the boys try to find a way both to do the show and to continue their arduously planned escape. The Sixth Sense's Olivia Williams co-stars as a guard Jimmy falls for, and British comic actors Bill Nighy and Frank Harper appear in supporting roles. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, (more)
Director Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel stars Robert DeNiro as a terrifying monster created in an obsessive attempt to defeat death and stretch the limits of medicine in the early 19th century. With the use of flashback, a dying Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) divulges a tale of gruesome terror to a sea captain (Aidan Quinn): As a medical student, the rebellious Frankenstein elaborates on the work of a brilliant scientist (John Cleese), successfully bringing to life a "man" assembled from the body parts of corpses. Upon realizing the destructive consequences of his experiment, Dr. Frankenstein abandons the creature and attempts to return to a normal life with his medical partner, Henry (Tom Hulce), and his fiancée (and adopted sister), Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). In the meantime, the nameless creature struggles with loneliness and rejection from society until he sets out to track down his creator in search of one of two things: a bride to keep him company or revenge. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who previously directed and produced monster-drama Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, (more)
- 1991
In this futuristic sci-fi political drama, the minerals of the moon are being exploited by both Russian and American mining companies. When a terrorist threatens an American mining company, a KGB agent teams up with a NASA investigator to stop them. The two agents are attracted to each other and this nearly derails their assignment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A nanny reveals ways of making children behave that are much more effective than a time-out in this fantasy comedy based on the "Nurse Matilda" books for children by Christianna Brand. Near the dawn of the twentieth century, Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) is a widower who must tend to his business as an undertaker while looking after his brood of seven children. Brown's offspring are a singularly ill-mannered lot who have managed to drive away 17 different nannies when their father arranges for one Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) to help out with the children. McPhee is an strange looking woman with a large nose, protruding teeth, and pock-marked skin, but it isn't long before the kids realize she has magical powers and isn't afraid to use them to help keep them in line. While the children aren't taken with McPhee's insistence on such things as saying "please" and listening to their elders, it becomes clear everyone has bigger things to worry about. Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) has insisted that if Mr. Brown cannot find a new wife within a month, she'll take custody of one of the children and cut off Brown's inheritance, and while Brown and the widow Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie) seem fond of one another, his ineptitude in courtship seems to insure he'll never get her to the altar. But while the Brown Children realize Nanny McPhee is a formidable opponent, she can also be a valuable ally as they learn to make use of her talents by being better children; they also discover that as they behave better, she begins to look less frightening. Emma Thompson, who played the title role in Nanny McPhee, also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, (more)
Merlin Ward's psychological thriller Out of Bounds stars Sofia Myles as Louise, a student at a boarding school. She is engaged in a sexual relationship with Matthew (George Asprey), the husband of her school's headmistress, Veronica (Sophie Ward). One day Matthew disappears. Louise sets about trying to figure out what happened to him, but she fears that she is either being framed by someone for murder and that her life may be in jeopardy. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-TV period drama, Kevin Whately stars as David Bruce, who, in 1911, receives an important promotion at the gas company for which he works. Born and raised in a working-class family, David is proud to have risen to a more economically privileged status, and he and his wife move into a new home in Bedford Park, with David confirming their new status by hiring a maid for his wife. Jane (Emma Cunliffe), the family's new domestic, soon falls in love with David's son Harry (Jason Hughes), a medical student. Harry is equally attracted to Jane, but Jane insists they keep their romance a secret, as it could jeopardize her career with the Bruce family. After a gas explosion claims the life of a fellow employee, David soon finds himself out of favor at work, and the pressures to live up to his employer's expectations take a steep emotional toll on him. With his marriage falling apart, David becomes increasingly attracted to Jane, and in time he persuades her to have an affair with him, which she feels she is in no position to refuse. Racked with guilt over her betrayal of Harry, Jane is forced to break the news to David that she is with child; David responds with a plan to murder his sickly wife, while Harry is outraged to discover Jane isn't sure if the child was fathered by himself or his father. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Whately
