Skip to content
Helen M Jerome reviews
- Cert:
- Running time: 106 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Released: 7th October 2005
- Sound: Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS Digital
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
Written and Directed by:
- Julian Jarrold
(TV: White Teeth, Great Expectations)
Producer:
- Nicholas Barton, Suzanne Mackie, Peter Ettedgui
(Calendar Girls)
Director of Photography:
- Eigil Bryld
(The King, Wisconsin Death Trip)
Screenplay:
- Geoff Deane and Tim Firth
Music Score:
- Adrian Johnston
(White Teeth, The Mighty Celt, Lassie)
Cast:
- Charlie Price: Joel Edgerton
Lola: Chiwitel Ejiofor
Lauren: Sarah Jane Potts
Nicola: Jemima Rooper
Mel: Linda Bassett
Don: Nick Frost
Harold Price: Robert Pugh
In his previous scripts, Tim Firth has famously shown that there’s more to the North of England than meets the eye. From Preston Front to Calendar Girls, he puts flesh on characters who might be clichd ciphers in other hands. And he’s also rather fond of placing ordinary folk in extraordinary situations to make his point.
For this movie, he doesn’t go quite so far north, stopping off at Northampton, formerly capital of shoe-making. In fact, if you look around long enough, you’ll find a town filled with of a load of old cobblers.
The point Firth’s script makes here is about the destruction of many British industries as the public and marketing experts opt for cheaper products that need replacing more often. The Price factory at the centre of the film makes ‘Church’ type shoes that last for years, but Price himself (Robert Pugh) is getting insufficient new orders. When Price Senior dies suddenly, his son Charlie takes over and has to decide whether to give up and sell up, or fight by diversifying. Which is where the plot (bear with me here) twists and turns into a tale of transvestite acceptance…
For Charlie (Aussie Joel Edgerton with convincing Midlands accent) spots a huge gap in the market for quality women’s boots and shoes to be worn by female impersonators. Gosh! Cue lots of soundtrack action for Kirsty MacColl’s brilliant song, In These Shoes and These Boots Are Made For Walking, not to mention the odd bit of product placement for Jimmy Choo.
And most importantly, cue Chiwetel Ejiofor (of Dirty Pretty Things) as the huge drag queen who goes through shoe leather like there was no tomorrow, thus inspiring Charlie and his most dogged employee, Lauren.
It’s not exactly Hobson’s Choice, but Ejiofor is splendid as the outrageous Lola, charming and horrifying the Northampton locals in equal measure as she arrives in full, glitzy drag.
Lola sees a fellow struggler in Charlie and their plucky attitude sets many noses (and contrived subplots) out of joint. But Lola is determined to help Charlie retool his factory towards fetish wear, so they can show it on the runway at the Milan Shoe Fair. Not that they don’t all fall out with each other in the process. And they also conveniently skirt around the issues of Lola’s identity. But the message is, be prepared to change your mind.
Comedic turns by stalwart British character actors like Nick Frost and Linda Bassett add to the texture of the ‘fish out of water’ story, and Joel Edgerton (from the wonderful Secret Life Of Us) puts in a winning performance as the sympathetic factory boss. But this is very much Chiwetel Ejiofor’s movie.
PERFORMANCES
SCREENPLAY
SOUND/MUSIC
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.