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Very Annie Mary Details

2000 DVD Certificate 15.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 800 members

The myth of the eccentric Englishman (or woman) is given a cinematic boost by the awkwardly hysterical VERY ANNIE MARY, a tale of a young Welsh woman's stumbling struggle to proclaim her independence and strike out on her own. With an epic sweep reminiscent of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, VERY ANNIE MARY examines the bucolic and banal .. Read more

Starring Rachel Griffiths, Jonathan Pryce, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys
Director Sarah Sugarman
Genres Audio Descriptive, Comedy

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Very Annie Mary

The myth of the eccentric Englishman (or woman) is given a cinematic boost by the awkwardly hysterical VERY ANNIE MARY, a tale of a young Welsh woman's stumbling struggle to proclaim her independence and strike out on her own. With an epic sweep reminiscent of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, VERY ANNIE MARY examines the bucolic and banal life of 33-year-old Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths), a perpetually adolescent and tragically klutzy young woman, miserably under the thumb of her egomaniacal opera singing father (Jonathan Pryce). Since the death of her beloved and similarly opera-loving mother when she was a girl, Annie Mary clings to the memories of a childhood musical competition where she was awarded a scholarship to study opera singing in Milan (which her domineering father prevented her from accepting). Haunted by the spectre of a future that could never be, Annie Mary mopes around, lost in hopeless dreams of living on her own and finding love. When her father is rendered helpless by a stroke, Annie Mary is forced to take her life into her own hands, which is when her inspired and overenthusiastic effort to reclaim her true self (and her singing voice) begins to send shock waves through her secluded Welsh village.

Starring Rachel Griffiths, Jonathan Pryce, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys, Ruth Madoc
Director Sarah Sugarman
Studio 4DVD
Run time DVD: 1 hr 39 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres Audio Descriptive, Comedy
Language English, English Audio Description
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles English
Released DVD: 14 Apr 2003
Production year: 2000
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of Very Annie Mary

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  • "...It has Rachel Griffiths showing a flair for physical comedy as gawky misfit Annie Mary that rivals her already proven talent for accents....This is a delightfully eccentric fable..."

    • Total Film
    • Posted 11 Mar 2005

  • Welsh writer/director Sugarman's second feature is an uneven, sometimes awkward but ultimately winning parable about... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Very Annie Mary

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  • 18 out of 20 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Sweet but saccharine

    This film, which boasts an extraordinary cast -- Jonathan Pryce, the fantastically versatile Rachel Griffiths, one of the real actresses around today [Six Feet Under, Hilary and Jackie, My Son the Fanatic], and the very lovely Ioan Gruffudd -- is let down by a corny and cringeworthily sentimental script: local colour with a sugar-pink tinge.

    If you're in the mood for a wholly undemanding feelgood meringue or cream cake, this film may satisfy you; but really it's not worthy of its distinguished cast, or even -- to be fair -- of the ideas and sentiments it tries (heavy-handedly) to convey.

      • Rehan from London
      • Posted 07 Oct 2004 01:44

  • Most recent members' review of Very Annie Mary

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  • 8 out of 11 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star [Highly rated reviewer]

    No welcome for this valley

    It is difficult to work up any enthusiasm for this film.

    The cast is let down by a script that is willing to exploit every cliché about life in the valleys. They may be poor, but they stand together; chapel is at the centre of village life; gangs of men roam the streets subjecting the population to close harmony singing at the drop of a hat and so on and so forth.

    The film wanders from event to event lacking a true narrative backbone. There are smatterings of amusing moments that are crushed by the overall paucity of imagination or style.

    Having gay corner shop owners called ‘Hob’ and ‘Nob’ might have looked like a good idea on paper, but that's where it should have stayed.

    Susan Sugarman, the writer and director, has a stab at magic realism, a stab at social commentary and a lunge at producing a musical comedy of gender politics. She consistently misses.

    Sugarman’s previous project was the dreadful ‘Mad Cows’ which also squandered a ton of other people’s money, this is just another step along that depressing road. Made with more attention to wheedling cash out of gullible institutions (the film got funding from both The Arts Council of Wales and of England) than presenting an appealing piece of cinema, the only thing ‘Very Annie-Mary’ does is remind the audience that if Hollywood produces crap, the only money it flushes away is its own.

      • Hierophant from Ipswich
      • Posted 26 Feb 2004 14:04

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Rating breakdown

800 Member ratings
  • 100
117
  • 90
78
  • 80
144
  • 70
113
  • 60
121
  • 50
70
  • 40
56
  • 30
37
  • 20
43
  • 10
21

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      • The myth of the eccentric Englishman (or woman) is given a cinematic boost by the awkwardly hysterical VERY ANNIE MARY, a tale of a young Welsh woman's stumbling struggle to proclaim her independence ...