Between Two Women
Encyclopedia
Between Two Women is a 1950s set feature film by British
writer-director Steven Woodcock
. It tells the story of Ellen, a factory worker’s wife trapped in an unhappy marriage amidst the grime and industrial noise of north England
.
) makes friends with her young son’s middle class schoolteacher, Miss Thompson (Andrina Carroll), and their growing lesbian
relationship is tastefully explored as Ellen’s marriage to the clumsy factory worker, Hardy (Andrew Dunn
), gradually falls apart. In the end Ellen finds the strength to follow her true path and her marriage is pretty much over. Because of the stifling social attitudes of the 1950s she and Hardy seem like they’ll pretend to still be together. The film closes on a happy note as Ellen catches a train away from the factory town where she lives, to spend time with Kathy.
and very understated style. Anybody with low concentration parameters could easily miss the lesbian aspect altogether. In the DVD
documentary The Making of Between Two Women (only on UK DVD) Steven Woodcock says that Miss Thompson was originally intended to be a man but he couldn’t get the story to work. He claims not to have based the story of the two women on anything that happened to him in real life but that it came as a flash of inspiration when he woke up one morning.
The movie is in the tradition of the British northern-set kitchen sink drama and is a homage to the British New Wave
of the late 1950s and early 60s, being filmed in the same naturalistic way, drawing on Cinéma vérité
methods, and using entirely real locations. Its main difference is that its theme of a lesbian relationship across the class divide in a gritty working class setting would have been considered too risky, had the film been made at the time of the original British New Wave movement. It's this that gives it, in the words of the British TV magazine the Radio Times
, "a refreshing contemporary spin".
and Rochdale
during the summer and autumn of 1999. It has become an international cult movie, garnering many positive reviews and winning the Best Feature Film Award at the Hollywood backed New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival soon after release. It has been screened in Hollywood at the Directors Guild of America
. It has been shown on British TV more than 250 times. Although a very British
film filled with well known British actors it was released on DVD by Image Entertainment
in America
before the UK, to some good reviews in Variety
and the Los Angeles Times
.
The second documentary on the UK DVD is about deleted scenes and in it Woodcock explains why he remastered the movie in 2005 and cut it back by about 15 minutes for the 2006 British release because he thought these scenes of interplay between the two women worked in the novel but slowed the story down on screen. The documentary also shows complete scenes and parts of scenes that were filmed but not included in either the US or UK versions of the movie.
The small grey car that Miss Thompson drives appears again in Steven Woodcock's next film The Jealous God
. There is a deliberate cross-referencing between the films when Vincent (Jason Merrells) says that he bought the car from a woman school teacher - a direct reference to it being the same car in the previous film.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
writer-director Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock (film director)
Steven Woodcock is an award winning British film director, writer, and producer. He has made two movies set in north England, Between Two Women and The Jealous God. They are similar, being 1950s & 60s set, and resemble each other in how they were made but they are different in tone and narrative...
. It tells the story of Ellen, a factory worker’s wife trapped in an unhappy marriage amidst the grime and industrial noise of north England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Plot
Working class Ellen (Barbara MartenBarbara Marten
Barbara Marten is a British actress.Barbara went to drama school as a teenager and says that it actually put her off becoming an actress. She trained as a teacher and taught for two years before being drawn back to the stage. After becoming involved with a theatre group in Coventry, Barbara joined...
) makes friends with her young son’s middle class schoolteacher, Miss Thompson (Andrina Carroll), and their growing lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relationship is tastefully explored as Ellen’s marriage to the clumsy factory worker, Hardy (Andrew Dunn
Andrew Dunn (actor)
Andrew Dunn is an English actor, best known for the role of Tony in the BBC sitcom Dinnerladies between 1998 and 2000. He was born in Leeds, but was raised in North Shields, eight miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne, before leaving for London at the age of 20. He trained as a teacher but decided he...
), gradually falls apart. In the end Ellen finds the strength to follow her true path and her marriage is pretty much over. Because of the stifling social attitudes of the 1950s she and Hardy seem like they’ll pretend to still be together. The film closes on a happy note as Ellen catches a train away from the factory town where she lives, to spend time with Kathy.
Style
It’s the stifling social conventions of the 50s that are at the root of the movie’s poeticPoetic
Poetic may refer to:* Poetry, or a relation thereof.* Too Poetic, a deceased rapper and hip hop producer....
and very understated style. Anybody with low concentration parameters could easily miss the lesbian aspect altogether. In the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
documentary The Making of Between Two Women (only on UK DVD) Steven Woodcock says that Miss Thompson was originally intended to be a man but he couldn’t get the story to work. He claims not to have based the story of the two women on anything that happened to him in real life but that it came as a flash of inspiration when he woke up one morning.
The movie is in the tradition of the British northern-set kitchen sink drama and is a homage to the British New Wave
British New Wave
The British New Wave is the name given to a trend in filmmaking among directors in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The label is a translation of Nouvelle Vague, the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard among others.There is considerable overlap...
of the late 1950s and early 60s, being filmed in the same naturalistic way, drawing on Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
methods, and using entirely real locations. Its main difference is that its theme of a lesbian relationship across the class divide in a gritty working class setting would have been considered too risky, had the film been made at the time of the original British New Wave movement. It's this that gives it, in the words of the British TV magazine the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
, "a refreshing contemporary spin".
Background and Production
The movie was shot mostly in and around HuddersfieldHuddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
and Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
during the summer and autumn of 1999. It has become an international cult movie, garnering many positive reviews and winning the Best Feature Film Award at the Hollywood backed New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival soon after release. It has been screened in Hollywood at the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
. It has been shown on British TV more than 250 times. Although a very British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film filled with well known British actors it was released on DVD by Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
before the UK, to some good reviews in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
.
US vs UK versions
The Region 2 UK version (79 mins) is shorter than the Region 1 US version (93 mins) and is the preferred version of the director. The UK version also contains the behind-the-scenes documentaries, giving nearly an hour of extras with the trailer. Some people prefer the longer version because greater character interplay is evident between the two women.The second documentary on the UK DVD is about deleted scenes and in it Woodcock explains why he remastered the movie in 2005 and cut it back by about 15 minutes for the 2006 British release because he thought these scenes of interplay between the two women worked in the novel but slowed the story down on screen. The documentary also shows complete scenes and parts of scenes that were filmed but not included in either the US or UK versions of the movie.
Trivia
Ellen's son Victor was played by Edward Woodcock, the director's son in real life. He is on screen more than any other actor in the film.The small grey car that Miss Thompson drives appears again in Steven Woodcock's next film The Jealous God
The Jealous God (film)
The Jealous God is a 1960s set feature film by British writer-director Steven Woodcock. It is based on the novel by John Braine. The opening scenes were filmed in the grammar school in Bradford where Braine was once a pupil...
. There is a deliberate cross-referencing between the films when Vincent (Jason Merrells) says that he bought the car from a woman school teacher - a direct reference to it being the same car in the previous film.
External links
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319056/
- http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=D9CC70591895f22BAERlV3C925F9