Little Voice (film)

Plot

Laura Hoff, an only child, is a reclusive young woman who lives with her mother, Mari, in a working-class home in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. She is known as LV (short for Little Voice) because of her soft, shy, and childlike speaking voice. She flees reality, hiding away in her bedroom, listening to records and impersonating the voices of American and British artists such as Marilyn Monroe, Gracie Fields, Judy Garland, and Shirley Bassey; her love of songs is her only source of strength since her beloved father's death. Her mother, by contrast, is a loud and promiscuous woman with little sympathy for LV's retiring nature or her grief.

Billy, a shy and awkward telephone engineer who raises homing pigeons, meets and begins to bond with LV when he installs a new telephone line in Mari's apartment. Their quiet romance is interrupted when Mari brings home Ray Say, a down and out talent agent. Ray, on the lookout for an act to carry him to fame and fortune, hears LV's impressions and recognizes her gift. He vows to make her a star despite LV's reluctance to step onstage. Although Mari remains dismissive of LV's skills, she is infatuated with Ray and goes along to win his approval. Ray arranges for LV to sing at a club owned by local comprimario Mr. Boo, but her performance is a failure as she is overcome by stage fright and only sings a few lines after Ray turns off the stagelights. Ray sees that LV needs encouragement on stage and works with Mr. Boo to organize a big band, lights, and a new dress to give her confidence, selling his car and taking out a loan from a local mobster to pay for the concert.

Ray gives her a pep talk, manipulating her into performing by portraying her act as a tribute to her father. LV agrees to sing again, but only as a one-off. LV envisions her father sitting in the club as she performs; she brings the house down and is a storming success. Ray spots a talent scout for a London agent in the audience and convinces the Agent to come and see LV perform the following night. As Ray, Mari and Mr. Boo toast their future success, LV murmurs that she agreed to sing only one time and slumps to the floor.

The following night LV catatonically remains in her bed. She ignores Mari's attempts to shame her into performing, and when Ray tries to first cajole than threaten her, she uses her impressions to scare him away. Ray, furious at losing his meal ticket, lashes cruelly out at Mari and storms away. At the cabaret club, the London agent finally loses patience after several third-rate acts fill the time in LV's absence and leaves. Ray storms into the club, grabs the mic and sings "It's Over" in a furious, profanity laiden tirade, as his career disappears before everyone's eyes, as the loan shark appears to demand his money back.

Meanwhile, the faulty wiring at LV's home finally starts a fire, trapping LV in her upper room where she is rescued by Billy. When she returns home, she discovers Mari has destroyed her fathers' records in revenge. In a final showdown with her mother, after being wrongly accused by her mother of arson, LV responds by screaming in her mother's face. Blaming her for her father's death and blaming her own meek nature on Mari's domineering attitude, she walks away saying her name isn't Little Voice, it's Laura. Freeing herself from others' control, she joins Billy to care for his pigeons and watch the sun rise.

Cast

• Brenda Blethyn as Mari
• Michael Caine as Ray Say
• Jim Broadbent as Mr. Boo
• Ewan McGregor as Billy
• Jane Horrocks as LV (Little Voice / Laura)
• Annette Badland as Sadie
• Philip Jackson as George
• Alex Norton as Bunnie Morris

In addition, Graham Turner portrays LV’s father, in photos and in her imagination.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 80% rating based on 50 reviews with the consensus: "Little Voice brings its award-winning source material to the screen in style, elevated by a commanding lead performance from Jane Horrocks."

Janet Maslin wrote in her New York Times review, "Horrocks's phenomenal mimicry of musical grande dames from Marlene Dietrich to Marilyn Monroe, lavishing special loving care on Judy Garland, makes a splendid centerpiece for the otherwise more ordinary film built around it."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt the story was "amusing but uneven" and that the film "seems to have all the pieces in place for another one of those whimsical, comic British slices of life. But the movie doesn't quite deliver the way we think it will. One problem is that the Michael Caine character, sympathetic and funny in the opening and middle scenes, turns mean at the end for no good reason. Another is that the romance, and a manufactured crisis, distract from the true climax of the movie. That would be Jane Horrocks' vocal performance ... she is amazing. Absolutely fabulous."

In Variety, Derek Elley called the film "a small picture with a big heart", adding, "The film has almost everything going for it, with the exceptions of a somewhat lopsided structure in which the climax comes two-thirds of the way through and a romantic subplot that plays like an afterthought. Nevertheless, smooth direction by Mark Herman and juicy performances by a host of Brit character actors ... ensure an entertaining ride ... Horrocks, whose combo of gamin physique and big vocal talent make the title role seem unthinkable for any other actress, is a revelation, handling moments of solo emotion and onstage strutting with equal, moving panache."

Accolades

Soundtrack {{anchor|Music}}

The following songs are performed by Horrocks:

• "The Man that Got Away" by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin
• "Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)" by Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Shern, and Roger Ramirez
• "Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg
• "Chicago" by Fred Fisher
• "Big Spender" by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields
• "I Wanna Be Loved By You" by Harry Ruby, Herbert Stothart, and Bert Kalmar
• "Sing As We Go" by Harry Parr Davies
• "Falling in Love Again" by Frederick Hollander and Samuel Lerner
• "Get Happy" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler

The film also features Michael Caine singing "It's Over", as performed by Roy Orbison.

References

References

1. "Little Voice".
2. {{rotten-tomatoes. little_voice. Little Voice. {{Retrieved
3. Maslin, Janet. (December 4, 1998). "'Little Voice': She's Wispy and Painfully Shy, but Onstage Her Mimicry Is Near Perfect".
4. Ebert, Roger. (December 4, 1998). "Little Voice".
5. Elley, Derek. (6 October 1998). "Little Voice".
6. "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org.
7. "BSFC Winners: 1990s".
8. (1999). "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1999".
9. (1999-10-24). "Winners Nominations 1999".
10. "1988-2013 Award Winner Archives".
11. "Little Voice – Golden Globes".
12. (2000-03-03). "Beauty outshines the Bard". [[BBC News]].
13. "3rd Annual Film Awards (1998)".
14. "International Press Academy website – 1999 3rd Annual SATELLITE Awards".
15. (1999). "The 5th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards: Nominees and Recipients".
16. "1998 SEFA Awards".