Female Drama Triple (Mrs Henderson Presents, Separate Lies, Girl With A Pearl Ea

Triple bill featuring three popular movies. ‘Mrs Henderson Presents’ (2005) is a comedy starring Judi Dench as Laura Henderson, a widow who is not by any means, going to spend the rest of her days playing bridge. The Windmill Theatre becomes her game and the infamous showman Vivian Van Dam (Bob Hoskins) becomes her partner and fiercest opponent. The Germans are bombing London but the roar of the Windmill is all that can be heard, as Laura convinces Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) to allow her actresses to be the one thing no one could ever imagine: nude. Brought to its knees by war, what Mrs Henderson Presents brings a nation to its feet in applause. ‘Separate Lies’ (2005) is a drama based on the novel by Nigel Balchin. James Manning (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife Anne (Emily Watson) lead a seemingly idyllic happy life together until a deadly accident sets off a cascade of increasingly dangerous lies which, in turn, reveal devastating truth about who they are and what each really wants from the other. ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ (2003) is Peter Webber’s screen adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s novel looking at the process behind creating one of the most famous portraits and told from the sitter’s viewpoint – namely Jan Vermeer’s The Girl With a Pearl Earring. Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a young woman who sets off from her family home in the countryside to work as a servant for the Vermeer household in the burgh of Delft. To begin with, she is very lowly in the servant ranks, but is then given responsibility for cleaning the master of the house’s painting quarters. Master of the house, the unsociable Vermeer (Colin Firth) is taken with Griet’s looks and over some time paints her portrait. This upsets his pregnant and jealous wife, Catharina (Essie Davis) and his benefactor, van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), who likes to decide what Vermeer should be painting. All the while, Griet is forming her own special relationship with a peasant boy (Cillian Murphy) of her own age.