Calendar Girls (2003)
Helen Mirren: Chris
Photos
Quotes
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Chris : A while ago I asked John Clarke to give us a talk here at Knapely WI. Annie asked me to read it to you here tonight, and this is what he wrote: "The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire. Every stage of their growth has its own beauty, but the last phase is always the most glorious. Then very quickly they all go to seed."
[laughter]
Chris : "Which makes it ironic my favourite flower isn't even indigenous to the British Isles, let alone Yorkshire. I don't think there's anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that's because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life."
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[seeking approval for the calendar at the National WI Conference]
Chris : I'm about to commit heresy. Look, I hate plum jam.
[laughter]
Chris : I only joined the WI to make my mother happy. I do, I hate plum jam. I'm crap at cakes, I can't make sponge. In fact, seeing as it's unlikely that George Clooney would actually come to Skipton to do a talk on what it was like to be in "ER", there seems very little reason for me to actually stay in the WI. Except suddenly... suddenly I want to raise money in memory of a man I loved, and to do that I'm prepared to take me clothes off for a WI calendar, and if you can't give us ten minutes of your time, Madam Chairman, well then, frankly, guys, I'm going to do it without council approval. Because there are some things that are more important than council approval. And if it means that we get closer to killing off this shitty, cheating, sly, conniving bloody disease that cancer is, oh God, I tell you, I'd run round Skipton market naked, smeared in plum jam, wearing nothing but a knitted tea cosy on me head and singing "Jerusalem".
[laughter]
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Annie : You baked that?
Chris : I'm not a total dead loss as a woman. I can't knit or make plum jam but I can bake a bloody Victoria sponge.
Annie : Ok, thank you.
Chris : Course, I didn't actually bake this one - I got it at Marks and Spencer - but the point is...
Annie : You can't enter a cake you bought in a shop!
Chris : Get off! It doesn't matter where it comes from, does it? This is about putting up a united front against Highgyll. This isn't bakery. It's Zulu.
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Chris : Lawrence, we're going to need considerably bigger buns.
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Ruth : Well, I think it's a great idea.
Cora : You weren't concentrating, were you Ruth?
Ruth : I was. We're going to raise money to buy a sofa for the hospital in John's name.
Celia : By posing for a nude calendar!
Ruth : Oh no!
Chris : Oh sit down. I'm not asking you to straddle an 'Arley Davidson.
Celia : It's still a bit of a leap from Burnsall church, love.
Chris : That's the 'ole point. It's an alternative calendar, it's...
Annie : It's what John suggested.
Chris : Did he?
Annie : The last stage of the flower is the most glorious. So what this calendar would be saying is "actually, yes John, we agree".
Ruth : With respect, I didn't hear him use the phrase "whip your bras off"
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Marie : The next item on the agenda is the calendar. Last year we had views of local bridges, so this year I thought we could go for the twelve most beautiful views of...
Chris : [mutters] ... George Clooney
Marie : ...the churches of Wharfedale.
Chris : [mutters] Eleven fully-clothed and a little "lift the flap" for December.
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Chris : And seeing Marie's raised the issue, we're a good few months short.
Marie : Is that not because all this has the air of another of Chris's great ideas? Like the vodka tasting night?
Chris : No, because I'm going to make sure this one turns out ok Marie, because it's for John. It's inspired by John and it's for John and it's because of John and no matter what you might think of the idea Marie, you're looking at January.
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Bookshop Owner : The WI calendar? No love.
Chris : But I definitely sent you some. See? Minstergate Bookshop, 50.
Bookshop Owner : I know. And I got 'em. I put 'em out at nine o'clock and by ten past nine, we'd sold out.
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Marie : Victoria Sponge. Annie's on Victoria sponge.
[Marie leaves. Chris dives under the table and brings out a cake tin]
Ruth : What's that?
Chris : Well, Annie won't have had time running Yul Brynner in and out of Skipton General, so ta da!
Annie : Sorry I'm late. It just took a bit longer than... Oh my God, the cake!
Chris : Told you.
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Cora : I'm surprised they printed it.
Jessie : It's probably all over the internet by now.
Annie : By the sound of it, most people have seen it already.
Chris : Lots of people have photos taken with their tops off on holiday in Ibiza don't they?
Ruth : It probably just came as a slight shock Chris, what with the previous fifteen photos being of flower arrangements.
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Brenda Mooney : We don't do nudity. But we do do charity. I assume that this is a local fundraiser and you're not going to be making a big hoo-ha out of it?
Chris : Yes.
Brenda Mooney : Then it is a branch matter, and I can leave any decision in the hands of your branch president.
[leaves]
Marie : [pauses] Oh sod it go on then.
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Student Photographer : The blood represents the spread of globalisation and the sheep's skull represents the death of democracy.
Chris : And the carrot?
Student Photographer : The carrot is capitalism.
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Chris : Have you photographed many humans or is it mainly...
Welsh Photographer : It's mainly poodles.
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Chris : I'm not a total dead loss as a woman, I may not be able to knit or make plum jam but I can bake a bloody Victoria sponge... 'course I didn't bake this one, I got it at Marks and Spencer.
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Chris Harper : [about John's cancer] So, what kind is it he's got?
Annie Clarke : He says he's going to call it Saddam Hussein.
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Chris : Look at 'em. Highgyll WI, "ooh, let's arrange our cakes round an old cartwheel".
Ruth : Does look pretty though.
Chris : Whose side are you on, Brutus?
Ruth : No, I didn't mean...
Chris : What's your event by the way?
Ruth : Tea tray, on an international theme. I did Jamaica but it could be anywhere in the Caribbean.
Chris : You know, if more people did WI, there'd be half the need for hallucinogenic drugs.
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[discussing the calendar]
Chris : It *should* be bloody George Clooney. I mean, come the toss between Burnsall Church and George Clooney, I know which I'd rather wake up looking at.
John : It is a Norman church, you know.
Chris : I'm not disputing the loveliness of the church, John. It's the firmness of the buttocks I'm worried about.
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Chris : This isn't bakery. It's Zulu!
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W.I. Judge : And the winner of this year's May Wilkinson trophy for Victoria Sponge maximum twelve inch diameter I'm delighted to say is entry number 213.
Annie : [whispers] Nice knowing you, Chris.
Chris : [whispers back] Help me!
Ruth : Well that's interesting.
W.I. Judge : entered by Knapely WI and baked by Chris Harper.
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Chris : Did you talk to the specialist? John seems a lot chirpier today. What's the old...
Annie : Pneumonia and septicaemia.
Chris : Oh well that's good, I've heard of those. They can deal with those can't they?
Annie : It means his immune system's weakened. The chemo isn't working which means we are finally out of straws.
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Chris : Now. Can anybody see my nipples?
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Chris : Good Lord. Nagging lilies.
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Chris : We thought if glamour photographers can do it on a beach in Bangkok we can do it in a church hall near Skipton.
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Ted the Bike Man : You ran into a gate? How'd you do that?
[Jem mumbles]
Chris : He does a paper round. It pays for his elocution lessons.
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Chris : I'm not asking you to straddle an 'Arley Davidson.
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W.I. Judge : Listen, I never normally ask this. The lightness of that sponge. Is there a trick? A technique how you got that?
Chris : Well, I basically stuck to me mother's advice about cake baking. Uh, which is line the bowl with butter. Always use a warm spoon. And if it's a special event, get it at Marks & Spencer's.
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Cora : There's just one problem. The photographer's a man.
Jessie : But the point is, we won't be showing anything.
Cora : In the photos. I imagine a considerable amount will be on display in the room.
Chris : He'll have to be in the room to take the photos!
Cora : With us naked!
Celia : Yeah. Or nude.
Chris : No, listen. An art photographer doesn't see a naked woman. He sees a life model!
Celia : Yes. No, the nudity isn't important.
Jessie : Easy to say when you've got your knickers on.