Agnes Browne

Plot synopsis:
In 1967 in Dublin, the unexpected death of Agnes Browne's husband sends her family, consisting of seven children aged between two and fourteen, into emotional turmoil and financial crisis. She is forced to borrow money from a ruthless loan shark named Mr. Billy to make ends meet. She faces her dismal existence by selling fruits and vegetables at an open-air market based in Dublin's Moore Street where she spends time with her best friend Marion, who proves to be a great source of encouragement in her difficulties.
Wishing to escape her troubles, if only for a short time, Agnes dreams of finding enough money to attend an upcoming Tom Jones concert. Agnes' dream is realized when Marion secretly buys two tickets and gives them to her. Agnes also accepts the offer of a date with a French baker named Pierre. Her children pool their money together and buy her a new dress to wear on the date. Marion soon discovers an ominous lump in her breast, which proves fatal.
Eventually the family has to face the loan shark. Mr. Billy warns Agnes that she has until Christmas to pay him back or he will strip her house of her furniture. On Christmas Day, Agnes receives a letter stating she can collect the money from the hotel where her husband worked. She holds off Mr. Billy and sends her children to the hotel, where they meet Tom Jones and tell him their story. Tom then visits Agnes in her home, helps her pay off Mr. Billy, and carries off her and the children to the concert in his cab. At the concert, Tom Jones dedicates his song "She's a Lady" to Agnes.

Tags: romantic

Review:
I think some of the others who commented on this movie were too harsh...it's not meant to be a human drama of great proportions.
In Dublin, 1967, a woman with seven children is suddenly faced with the travails of widowhood in `Agnes Browne,' directed by and starring Anjelica Huston.
After the unexpected death of her husband, life becomes something less than a picnic for Agnes (Huston), what with children ranging in age from two to fourteen and no assets to speak of.
It's a bleak state of affairs for Agnes, who luckily has a dear friend, Marion (Marion O'Dwyer), who is always there for her; and with friendship, a sense of humor, and the dream of seeing Tom Jones in concert, it's enough to keep her going as she manages to take it all one day at a time.
There are poignant moments in this character driven, heartwarming film, as well as some funny ones; Huston has done an outstanding job of creating a mood and an atmosphere that brings the Irish working class vividly to life, and she populates her landscape with characters who are not only real, but incredibly rich in their humanity.
Huston gives a terrific performance as Agnes, imbuing her with both a strength and vulnerability that make her real.
In her motion picture debut, O'Dwyer gives a memorable performance as well, as Marion; though nondescript in appearance, there is nevertheless something charming about this woman, and it has everything to do with `character.' Through her unwavering loyalty to Agnes she personifies the meaning of friendship, and exemplifies how invaluable a true friend can be, especially in times of need.
No stranger to all things Irish, Huston was the perfect choice to star in and direct this project.
With `Agnes Browne,' she succeeds splendidly, with a film that is striking both visually and emotionally.
And, lest it be taken for granted, one need but consider Alan Parker's `Angela's Ashes,' which visited the same territory but came off flat and uninspired, especially compared to Huston's film, which so distinctly and fervently imparts the essence of the proud Irish poor.
Her acting, as well as that of the actress who plays Marion Monks, was outstanding.Left a widow with seven children, Agnes Browne, is undaunted in her spunk and determination to rise above adversity.
Agnes' best friend nearly steals the movie with her believable, heartwarming performance as the down-to-earth, pungently irreverent, Marion Monks.The children, (all seven of them) never seem like actors.
The French baker next door also adds flavor as the love interest.Working-class Ireland in the poor section is seen realistically but with much more kindness and hope than Frank McCourt's world of Angela's Ashes.
As a dealer in new and used movies, especially since I specialize in unusual, out-of-print, Indies, foreign, and other non-mainstream titles, I have the opportunity to discover many films in the hidden-gem category, like this one.
Angelica Huston's Irish accent is absolutely fabulous (her bio says she went to school in Ireland).
Angelica and her co-star Marion O'Dwyer bond very well together; I felt like I was glimpsing into a real true-life friendship.
And the 7 children that play Angelica Huston's kids are an asset to the movie.This is an endearing, quality independent film for those of us who love a good drama as well as some good chuckles!
Poetry, compared to other recent movies about working-class women in Ireland.
This is an excellent picture of the life of working-class women on the housing estates ('projects' to Americans,probably as true now as in the 'sixties, as well as being a very good movie for women actors.
I have my doubts about Tom Jones' scenes at the end, but nothing's perfect.
I think some of the others who commented on this movie were too harsh...it's not meant to be a human drama of great porportions.
It's simply a fun, fairy tale that is a feel good movie.
It's simply a fun, fairy tale that is a feel good movie.
It's not made to make you think about the social plight of widowed Irish mothers in the 1960's...it's made to give you a good laugh and to leave a smile on your face.And that it did.
It's not made to make you think about the social plight of widowed Irish mothers in the 1960's...it's made to give you a good laugh and to leave a smile on your face.And that it did.
I particulary like the relationship between Agnes and Marion...I think it was a perfect display of women's relationships, and how they change and grow over time.I admit I found the characters a bit "oirish" at times, but it was lovely and fun.
I particulary like the relationship between Agnes and Marion...I think it was a perfect display of women's relationships, and how they change and grow over time.I admit I found the characters a bit "oirish" at times, but it was lovely and fun.
Truly a heartwarming story of friendship with Marion and Agnes, but when the whole community is thrown in what an amazing film about friends and friendship.
Angelica Huston has captured the essence of Ireland , it's people and their language.Tossed with a bit of Tom Jones and........
AGNES BROWNE (1999) **1/2 Anjelica Huston, Marion O' Dwyer, Ray Winstone, Tom Jones(cameo).
Huston, who also co-produced with filmmaker Jim Sheridan anddirects in her big-screen debut, gives it her all as stoic, decentIrish mother of seven in Dublin circa 1967 whose adjustment towidowhood takes its toll in her daily struggle to keep her broodunder wraps even as she attempts to enjoy her life as it proceeds.
Especially the scene where Agnes is burying her husband is hilarious!I shall rent this flick on DVD some time to watch it again (and again and again....).
At the center of the story is its namesake, Agnes Browne (Anjelica Houston), who has just lost her husband and is struggling to support her seven children.
The film presents a slice-of-life of families struggling to stay afloat, but trivializes their plight by making its heroine's greatest ambition a trip to a Tom Jones concert.While the story has some charming and poignant moments, it is mostly mundane and lacks the ability to keep all but the most sentimental viewer engaged.
It's impossible for it to be a boring, badly written, badly directed, badly acted, badly staged piece of network-TV movie tripe." Well, dear friend, anything is possible..
If you are a fan of Mrs Browne's Boys then Agnes Browne serves as a sort of a prequel apart from the lead character being played Anjelica Huston who also directs.The film was co-written by Brendan O'Carroll and based on his source material who also pops up as a drunk.The film is set in a poor working class district of Ireland of the 1960s.
Agnes Browne has lost her husband and has to support her seven young children.
She needs to borrow money from a loan shark until her widow's benefit comes through.
Over time she pays off the loan shark but loses a close friend to cancer and finds romance with a neighbouring French baker and dreams to see Tom Jones in concert.The film is rather bittersweet than a raucous comedy we are more used to.
The story is thin, more of a slice of life in a harsh Dublin environment when working class families stuck together.
The story does not always hang well together.Anjelica Huston makes the best out of a low budget, she makes herself appear dowdy until she goes on a date with the French baker and then pampers herself.
She gets an earthy performance from her cast but Ray Winstone who puts on a good Irish accent is too much of a cartoonish villain and that is because the script is rather flat..
I enjoyed this humorous account of life among Dublin's poor in the same way I enjoyed the humor of Love on the Dole and similar films of the working class combating grinding poverty with humor.
It would be a very brave man willing to take on a widow with seven children.I could not help wondering why Agnes did not go to the Garda over Billy's loan sharking to young children, but perhaps the poor of Dublin don't involve the police.
In reality the clerk would have realized she was dealing with a woman who had just lost her husband and been helpful and solicitous.2) The relationship with her eldest son should have been more detailed, and his meeting with the carpenter who was willing to take him on as an apprentice and teach him a a trade rather than leave him to dead end jobs interspersed with the employment dole was rushed through.
There was certainly enough time to expand this part of the story as the film was only 91 minutes long.
3) The ending with the brash Tom Jones did not play well and would have been better with Agnes all dressed up and leaving for the concert, or as a dream/fantasy sequence, with her waking up and finding Pierre waiting for her having helped the children get their tea ready.
The quaint open air market and the Irish loan shark add a colorful dimension to a fairly predictable story line.
I guess it was supposed to be a dramatic piece, like so many Irish movies(only some kind of diet coke version, not like Angela's ashes) but at the break I just couldn't care less.
Agnes Browne is a recently bereaved, stall owner and mother of seven children.
With her best friend and fellow stall owner Marion Monks, she works hard every day to feed, house and clothe herself and her children.
She enjoys a pint and a singsong in the pub but when she has a rare moment to herself she likes to dance to her Tom Jones records.Agnes Browne is another directorial effort from the wonderful Anjelica Huston and with her in the main role I would expect a lot better than what I received for my moneys worth.
The problem with this film is that John Goldsmith's adaptation of Brendan O'Carroll's hit " The Mammy " is terrible and it plays to the worst kind of paddy whackery since Darby O'Gill and the little people.
His Irish accent is as bad as the script he may have played a relocated English loan shark.
Anjelica Huston is good, not great, I think the dual duties of acting and directing may have got the better of her.
Granted families will love this but what I am saying is instead of becoming another family hour movie on some television station, it could have been ten times better and more beneficial for us all.
One is Anjelica Huston, the director of the movie, but also one of the main actresses.
The other one is Tom Jones who got a cameo in this movie.
I hoped it would be a very funny movie and most of the time it was...Agnes Browne is a recently widowed mother of 7 young children who has a very hard time making a living out of selling some fruit and vegetables on the daily market, which she does together with her best friend, who supports her in these difficult times.
She wishes to escape her hard life for a few moments and dreams of finding enough money so she can go to a Tom Jones concert.
She starts realizing her dreams when she goes on a date with the French baker who has been in love with her since the first time he saw her.
But nothing will stop Agnes Browne and her family from finding happiness...This movie certainly has some very good moments to offer that will definitely make you laugh out loud.
`Agnes Browne' is a genuine charmer, a simple, but heartwarming comedy/drama directed by and starring the magnificent Anjelica Huston.
Set in a lower class Dublin neighborhood in 1967, the story centers around Agnes, an attractive woman whose husband has just died leaving her sole provider for her seven children, ranging in age from early adolescence to diaper-wetting toddler.
With the love of her best friend, Marion, to support her (this almost seems to be more of a love story between them than between Agnes and Pierre, the local Frenchman who falls for her), Agnes learns to cope with financial set backs, the neighborhood extortionist, the growing pains of her children and, most tragically, the terminal illness of someone very dear to her heart.`Agnes Browne' could have emerged as a heavy-handed wallow in tragedy and bathos, but those involved both in front of and behind the cameras have managed to maintain an air of breezy likeability even in the film's darkest moments.
If there is a criticism to be leveled against the movie, it would probably be that the film is actually - at a mere 92-minute running time - a bit too short.
As the silent, sensitive and understanding merchant who woos and wins Agnes, Pierre simply seems too much like the `ideal man' stereotype who always seems to be just waiting in the wings the moment one of these attractive but harried movie widows/divorcees is starting life anew out on her own.
A much more well rounded and three-dimensional character is that of Agnes' best friend, Marion, (beautifully portrayed by Marion O'Dwyer), a warmhearted, fun-loving woman who provides the kind of confidant and companion that all of us would love to have in our lives.
But the real selling point of `Agnes Browne' is, undoubtedly, the luminous performance delivered by Anjelica Huston herself.
With her glowing portrayal, Huston literally lights up the center of this movie.Yes, the fairy tale ending may seem a bit out of place perhaps.
Yet, in a way, for all its moments of death, heartbreak and sorrow, `Agnes Browne' never really aspires to be anything BUT a charming fairy tale.
This film relates the story of a recently widowed Irish woman's attempt to keep some semblance of normalcy in her life and those of her seven children.
That said, the movie plods along through Agnes's life, as she quickly jumps into flirtations with the town baker, leading me to wonder if the corpse was even cold yet.
This movie tries very hard to make the anguish of Agnes's life interesting, but it switches gears on the viewers too fast and too often.
And Tom Jones, by the time this movie was filmed, was way too old to play the 1967 version of himself.
AGNES BROWNE is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food; it's not a challenging or particularly unusual film, but if you buy into it, it'll leave you with a nice warm feeling inside.
And Dublin has never looked more beautiful on film.One other thing-if you've seen SEXY BEAST, watch for Ray Winstone (`Gal') as Mr. Billy, the loan shark who terrorizes Agnes and her family.
It looked charming and I was intrigued by Angelica Houston playing against type as a working-class widow struggling to support her seven children in the hard-scrabble word of 1960's Ireland.
As Agnes and her best fried Marion make their way through the halls of Irish bureaucracy just hours after the death of Agnes' husband, the dialogue is just a little too clever, the emotional tone just the slightest bit false.
The film comes off more as someone's fantasy of what Irish people are like more than anything real.
One of Agnes Browne's dreams is to attend a Tom Jones concert.Two-thirds of the way through, I was simply persevering to get a look at Mr. Jones He does show up eventually, but even that seems a little odd (that's not a spoiler, he's in the credits, you know he's coming one way or another).
Thankfully the children make AGNES BROWNE bearable.
Each a quirky individual in his or her own right, they provide the film with some of its truest moments and best performances.
AGNES BROWNE is not without its charms, but in other hands - and most importantly, with better writing - it could have been a much better movie..
Angelica Huston is almost believable as an Irish mammy ("I don't know my husband's maiden name").
you love to hate him as usual).SPOILER COMING UPEntertaining, almost belieavble, only to be spoiled by mr foghorn Jones making an appearance at the end, not looking at all the way the period of the film would suggest (especially on stage).
All the plot summaries I had read about this movie say something completely different (read the one on imdb.com) than what I feel this movie is actually about.This movie is the story of Agnes Browne, and her budding friendship with a neighboring woman, Marion.
I suppose they knew each other before Agnes' husband's death (movie starts with the funeral), but apparently they didn't become best friends until after the funeral.
Unbeknownst to Agnes, but knownst to us, her friend has cancer.Here follows several touching scenes, brilliantly crafted, with perfect dialogue, etc...:Agnes runs into Marion's husband, who sort of tells Agnes what is going on.
At this point, I felt it was very clear Agnes had a good amount of money, as she even bragged a little about it.
When one of Agnes' kids borrows 6 pounds from the earlier loan shark, the money problems mysteriously reappear when payment time comes.
Agnes tries to scrape up the 10 pounds owed (interest) and seemingly can't come up with that, despite the money being offered to her by a Frenchman named Pierre who is in love with her, and despite her doing several things, including selling her wedding ring!
Then she gets money out of nowhere from her late husband's work union, and also Tom Jones bizarrely helps save the day (making her reliant on Tom Jones, who I believe is a man).I really like Anjelica Huston.
But in this movie, you really notice her terrible attempt at an Irish accent, which faded in and out, was never really right, and was extremely distracting.