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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 253419" data-attributes="member: 23">Pat and Margaret (continued)Stone cold women hiding behind very different images are a theme in the film. Magic Moments presenter Maeve warmly greets Pat backstage before the show, asking her the secret to looking good, before quietly commenting to an associate how haggard Pat looks. It’s implied that she knows exactly how unwanted the reunion would be for Pat. After the show, Maeve gushes to Pat. When Pat asks if they can remove the reunion from the show, Maeve initially falls back on disingenuousness, pretending to misunderstand. Then when Pat clarifies Maeve gives her warmest smile as she plunges the knife in:Anne Reid is predictably note-perfect as Maeve. And she’s far from the only one-time Corrie regular to appear. Philip Lowrie - by now an established part of Vic’s trusted reliable team - appears as the Magic Moments warm-up act. Julie Hesmondhalgh is a helper in a care home. And the wonderful Madge Hindle has a brief walk-on role as a fan of Pat’s soap opera, Glamor during the memorable scene in which Pat is refused credit by a hotel receptionist who evidently is not a fan of the series:Along similar lines to Maeve is journalist Stella, who make a show of head tilting empathy in order to gain people’s confidence or information, but resorts to deception and dirty tricks to get her stor. Not least the note from a “fan” she passes on from Jim to Claire to Pat, which leads Pat and Margaret to their mother and a photo opportunity. Deborah Grant perfectly treads the line between warmth and ice as Stella. Also fitting somewhat into this category is Margaret’s boyfriend Jim’s mother, played by the brilliant Thora Hird. Being a mother is her full-time job, and one she maintains by suffocating, bullying and controlling Jim. He’s there to serve her, and she’s not prepared to share him with Margaret, to the point that when Margaret phones her with a message for Jim, she lies to him about who was on the phone. She openly talks to Claire about trying to introduce Jim to better women than Margaret, yet she repeatedly focusses on his illiteracy to Jim and anyone will listen, all the better to keep him in his place. It’s easy to surmise that she could have done more to get him help but chose not to in order that Jim didn’t gain knowledge and education, which might have meant him leaving the next. All of which leads to the great “raffia” line already mentioned by BF. In fact, all of Thora’s scenes have terrifically sharp lines, usually coming from her no airs and graces black and white outlook. Such as her observation to pregnant Claire:As Jim, Duncan Preston is captivating. He spends much of the time on the sidelines, but his journey from Lancashire to London (specifically “Mary-Lee-Bone”, as his mother reads it) in order to find Margaret is telling of his reliability and care. In many ways he’s the prototype for Stan, his character in dinnerladies. Indeed, this film pulls the best of Victoria Wood to date and also has hints of things to come. Celia Imrie’s cheery-but-hopefully unorganised Claire resembles Pippa the HR manager who was of equal disposition and skill, and also played by Celia. She’s a bright spot here, always dashing to the loo and forgetful because of her pregnancy (written in because of Celia’s real-life pregnancy), and yet genuinely happy at the reunion and a speaker of truth. It’s Celia who insists to Pat that Margaret is a nice person, despite it potentially jeopardising her job. Vic’s portrayal of Margaret foreshadows Bren, her dinnerladies character, whose earthy simplicity and outlook feel very similar. And clip-toned diva Pat strongly resembles Pam, the monstrous TV host also played by Julie Walters in Vic’s 1989 series.The characters of Pat and Margaret could be viewed as analogous with Julie Stephens and Maureen, Walters and Wood’s characters from Talent and Nearly A Happy Ending. In many ways they’re the same characters, if Julie Stephens had got her break and become the celebrity she’d dreamt of being. (continued) </blockquote>

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