Mrs Henderson Presents
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mrs Henderson Presents is a 2005 biographical musical film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Martin Sherman. It stars Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kelly Reilly, and Will Young (in his acting debut). It tells the true story of Laura Henderson, an eccentric British socialite who opened the Windmill Theatre in London in 1931.
Mrs Henderson Presents was theatrically released on 25 November 2005 by The Weinstein Company. It received generally positive reviews from critics and did moderately well, grossing $27.8 million against its $20 million budget. It received two nominations at the 78th Academy Awards; Best Actress (for Dench) and Best Costume Design (for Sandy Powell).
Plot
Eccentric 70-year-old widow Mrs Laura Henderson purchases a redundant cinema and remodels it to create the Windmill Theatre in London, as a post-widowhood hobby and appoints autocratic manager Vivian Van Damm. In 1937, they start a continuous variety revue called "Revudeville", but after other theatres copy this innovation, they begin losing money. Mrs Henderson suggests they add female nudity, similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, something unprecedented in the United Kingdom. The Lord Chamberlain (Rowland Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer) reluctantly allows this under the condition that the nude female performers remain immobile, so the performances can be considered art, the equivalent of nude statues in museums.
Because the theatre's auditorium is below street level, it is relatively safe during the bombing of London, and performances continue. The performers bravely go on with the show even during frightening bombing raids, and the posed nude girls resume their poses, after ducking, as the whole theatre is shaken and the scene flats all round them sways when a bomb lands close by.
Maureen, one of the cast, becomes involved at Mrs Henderson's instigation with a young soldier, Paul, one of the audience regulars. Maureen becomes pregnant and receives word that after Paul is demobilised, he intends to return to his girlfriend. She becomes very upset, and hands in her notice. Before further developments, she is killed by a bomb while leaving the theatre.
Other scenes depict life in the theatre during the period. Mrs Henderson and Mr Van Damm frequently clash, but also show great appreciation for each other.
Eventually, the authorities want the theatre to close because of the danger from bombs to crowds gathering outside the theatre. Mrs Henderson successfully argues that for soldiers going to die in the war, this is their last chance, and for many of the young soldiers their only chance, to see naked women. She reflects on the death of her son in the First World War, and how he may never have even seen a naked woman except on a French postcard he had been carrying when he died in a gas attack.
The film's closing credits explain that, on her death in 1944, Mrs Henderson bequeathed the theatre to Mr Van Damm.
Cast
- Judi Dench as Laura Henderson
- Bob Hoskins as Vivian Van Damm
- Will Young as Bertie
- Christopher Guest as Lord Cromer
- Kelly Reilly as Maureen
- Toby Jones as Gordon
- Thelma Barlow as Lady Margot Conway
- Anna Brewster as Doris
- Rosalind Halstead as Frances
- Sarah Solemani as Vera
- Natalia Tena as Peggy
- Melody Squire as Millerette
- Sir Thomas Allen as Eric Woodburn
- Richard Syms as Ambrose
- Samuel Barnett as Paul
- Ralph Nossek as Leslie Pearkes
