It just might be the perfect movie, at least for some, except for the insistence that wherever two or more are gathered, there must be conflict. The movie is Calendar Girls the true story of a group of women from North Yorkshire who got the idea to do a nude calendar as a fund-raiser for their local Women's Institute. The WI, as it is known, is regarded by most as a stuffy gathering of women listening to talks about broccoli.

        But one gal in the WI gets the idea that the annual calendar might be more appealing with a little zest and so gathers together twelve women to pose in the all-together. A comparison to The Full Monty seems deserved, except this story is true. I remember the news article from the BBC in the late '90s; in fact I used it in my class to demonstrate the power of the gaze.

        The film, directed by Nigel Cole, has all the charm of the original story, except for what feels to me like the insertion of the obligatory conflicts. First there's the conflict about making the calendar. Will the WI allow the women to shed their apparel? Then there's the family conflict, will mother spending all her time promoting her progeny cause her husband and child to self-destruct from abandonment? And finally, there's the most labored, the conflict between the Calendar Girls themselves.

        Beside the contrivances tacked on to the story, this film just might be perfect. Helen Mirren is brilliant as Chris, the woman with the quirky idea. And Julie Walters is equally splendid as her best friend Annie Clark. The calendar is created in memory of Annie's husband, who dies early in the movie. All the funds raised, and they are now considerable, are for cancer wards around the country.

        Calendar Girls abounds with a joie de vive that cannot help but be infectious. The audience at the screening I saw clapped loudly as the credits rolled and I did too. There's a happiness to this movie that does rub off. Mirren and Walters are a cross between mildly delinquent teenagers and women who have vowed to forever wear purple. The combination is a winner. Confirming once again that all British films are about people who are cheery and mildly whacky.

        My recommendation is that you drop everything, even your clothes perchance, and rush to see this delightful film. I dare you not to leave smiling.

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