Shirley Valentine (film) seem recycled directly from greeting cards . . . If there is a shred of plausibility in the film, it comes from Bernard Hill's performance as Shirley Valentine's husband. He isn't a bad bloke, just a tired and indifferent one, and when he follows his wife to Greece at the end of the film there are a few moments so truthful that they show up the artifice of the rest." Shirley Valentine (film) Shirley Valentine is an award-winning 1989 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of
Peter McKintosh Being Earnest, Hay Fever, Harvey, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Another Country, Viva Forever!, Death and the Maiden, Butley, Love Story, Prick Up Your Ears, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Donkeys’ Years, The Dumb Waiter, Fiddler on the Roof, A Woman of No Importance, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine (West End); Guys and Dolls, Uncle Vanya, Antony and Cleopatra, The Scarlet Letter, Just So, Pal Joey, Another Country (Chichester Festival Theatre); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Sound of Music, Crazy For You, Hello Dolly! (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Winslow Boy (Old Vic/Roundabout, NY); Noises Off (Old Vic/West End/UK tour); Our Country’s Good,