Shirley Henderson Movies
A former childhood thrush who has since moved on to find success as an actress, Scottish-born stage and screen star Shirley Henderson has come a long way from her working-class roots with roles in such internationally popular features as Bridget Jones's Diary, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The eldest of three sisters whose striking voice set her apart from the pack, Henderson found early success on the local music circuit before moving on to study drama at Kirkaldy Technical College. Her tenure at Kirkaldy eventually led her to study at the acclaimed Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and it wasn't long before Henderson made an impression on the stages of The National Theater, The Royal Court, and the Hampstead Theater. Equally adept at performances of both the classical and contemporary variety, Henderson's stage experience served her well when she appeared opposite Robert Carlyle in the 1995 television series Hamish Macbeth. After going international the following year with a role in the big-screen hit Rob Roy, Henderson would next appear opposite Carlyle once again in the heroin-flavored arthouse hit Trainspotting. A key role in director Michael Winterbottom's 1999 drama Wonderland, coupled with critical acclaim for her role in the same year's Topsy-Turvy, gave Henderson a reputation for versatility and talent onscreen, with subsequent supporting roles in The Claim and 24 Hour Party People finding her becoming something of a stock player for Winterbottom. A role as the eponymous characters' best friend in the 2001 comedy Bridget Jones' Diary found Henderson's profile rising on the other side of the Atlantic, and in 2002, the then-36-year-old actress pulled off the unlikely feat of portraying Hogwarts student Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Arthouse success in Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself served well to balance out Henderson's mainstream success, and after appearing in a series of shorts, the increasingly busy actress appeared in no less than three films in 2004, including the eagerly anticipated sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The members of a British working-class family see their lives starting to come apart as the Nation prepares to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (named for an anarchist who tried to blow up Parliament) in Michael Winterbottom's drama Wonderland. Eileen (Kika Markham) and Bill (Jack Shepherd) are a married couple with four grown children. Bill has lost his job and is drifting through life, unsure of what to do. He's also having sexual problems with Eileen, who is being driven insane by their noisy neighbors. Neither Bill nor Eileen have seen their son Darren (Enzo Cilenti) for a long time, and his birthday is a heartbreaking experience for them. (Darren, on the other hand, would prefer to celebrate his birthday by spending the night in a hotel with his girlfriend rather than seeing his parents.) Bill and Eileen also have three daughters, Nadia (Gina McKee), Debbie (Shirley Henderson) and Molly (Molly Parker). Nadia works in a cafe and has trouble meeting men; she's signed up with a dating agency, but has yet to meet anyone she likes. Debbie is suddenly a single mother after separating from her drunken lout of a husband. Debbie drowns her sorrows in a series of meaningless one-night-stands, while her husband flies into uncontrollable rages and their son is left with no one to turn to on either side. And while Molly's story seems happy on the surface -- she's soon to give birth to her first child and her husband has done well in kitchen sales -- she's suddenly thrown into instability when she finds her husband has quit his job, without telling her, to follow his dream of becoming a chef. Wonderland received enthusiastic reviews for its ensemble cast when shown at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Henderson, Gina McKee, (more)
Noted for intimate character studies created in collaboration with his actors, director Mike Leigh makes a dramatic change of pace with this biography of comic opera composers W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) is an easily angered but otherwise emotionally remote lyricist who works in collaboration with composer Sullivan (Alan Corduner), a genial and fun-loving sort who feels unsatisfied writing light operettas and longs to work with more serious material. While Sullivan is having a creative crisis, Gilbert is facing a failing marriage to Lucy (Lesley Manville), who loves her husband even if he can't return her affections, and must deal with his ailing father (Charles Simon). When they suffer their first failure, both men are depressed, and Sullivan announces that he's giving up operetta for good. However, a visit to an exhibit of Japanese art sparks an idea in Gilbert, and soon he and Sullivan are hard at work on what will become one of their greatest successes, The Mikado. Much of the film is devoted to the staging of this classic, with Shirley Henderson, Dorothy Atkinson, Martin Savage, Timothy Spall, and Kevin McKidd as members of the operetta's cast. Jim Broadbent won Best Actor at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Broadbent, Alan Corduner, (more)
- 1997
After doing a documentary on Glasgow loan sharks, director Ron Rohrer reworked the subject into a TV drama with a screenplay by Rona Munro, who previously scripted documentary material into drama for Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird (1994). In Glasgow, Lynette (Shirley Henderson) is friends with redhead Terry (Sharon Small) and dates petty criminal Andy (Joe McFadden). Terry's promise to her pal Lynette is that one day they can take the high road -- a vacation trip to Loch Lomond. Despite warnings from Andy, Lynette piles up debts and trouble looms. Lynette and Terry find the bonds of their friendship strained, as Terry has to make her way through the violent loan-shark world to help her friend. Shot in Super-16 with distinctive, hand-held camerawork by Barry Ackroyd (Under the Skin), this film was originally made for BBC Scotland and shown at the 1997 Edinburgh Film Festival's New British Expo. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Henderson, Sharon Small, (more)
Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a young man with few prospects and fewer ambitions, lives in economically depressed Edinburgh. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug's blissful nothingness; financing his habit also provides excitement and challenges that his life otherwise lacks. Renton's two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud (Ewan Bremner), a guileless nerd who suggests Pee Wee Herman's debauched cousin. Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to peace of mind. However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep on the trail of a big score, leading Renton back into drugs and crime. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, (more)
The 18th century Scottish legend of Robert Roy MacGregor comes to life in this stylish adaptation of the swashbuckling novel by Sir Walter Scott. Liam Neeson stars as the title character, a cattle drover and proud head of a Highlands clan who takes a one thousand pound loan from the royal Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) in order to make a profit on some livestock that will keep his struggling people alive through the coming winter. One of the Marquis' henchmen, wily expert swordsman Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) learns of the loan from the nobleman's factor, Killearn (Brian Cox), and steals the money by murdering Rob Roy's best friend MacDonald (Eric Stoltz). Unable to repay the loan and unwilling to give up his land, Rob Roy becomes a fugitive, hunted by none other than Cunningham, who rapes Rob Roy's wife Mary (Jessica Lange). Scotch-British politics come to a boil over the Rob Roy affair, leading to an officially sanctioned showdown between the stoic farmer and Cunningham. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, (more)
- 1993
- R
Greta Scacchi plays a famous feminist activist, while Vincent D'Onofrio portrays a humble Scots fisherman in this film from director Andrew Birkin. Despite the obvious ideological chasm between them, the two fall in love. The couple spend the rest of the film running away from commitment, only to be reunited at every turn. Salt on Our Skin is also known under the title Desire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Scacchi, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
- 1990
In this gentle, meandering film, a seventeen-year old Scottish lad wanders the streets of Kilmarnock daydreaming about this and that and wondering if he and his girlfriend will make out that evening. One highlight of the film is a daydream sequence in which the boy and his girlfriend are watching a French romantic movie with Scottish (not English) subtitles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewen Bremner, Mary McCusker, (more)
