Our Ladies

In 1990s Scotland, a group of Catholic school girls get an opportunity to go into Edinburgh for a choir competition, but they're more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning the competition.

Year: 2019

Director: Michael Caton-Jones

Producers: Michael Caton-Jones, Brian Coffey, Laura Viderman

Executive Producer: Alan Warner, Jennifer Armitage, Diego Suarez Chialvo

Writers: Alan Sharp, Michael Caton-Jones

Principal Cast: Eve Austin, Tallulah Greive, Abigail Lawrie, Sally Messham, Rona Morison, Marli Siu

Synopsis

A pitch-perfect evocation of the possibilities and frustrations of being young and riotously alive in mid-90s Scotland, Our Ladies follows the teenage choirgirls of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour on a day trip from their port town in the Highlands to a singing competition in Edinburgh. Its focus is the rebellious gang sitting at the back of the bus, who are less interested in the contest than furthering their own version of a catholic education in the big city.

Booze and boys feature heavily and hilariously, but this unvarnished coming-of-age saga also ponders (without preachiness) sexuality, pregnancy, class difference and the tumultuous path of true friendship. The six central characters are brought to life by brilliant performances from Eve AustinTallulah GreiveAbigail LawrieSally MesshamRona Morison and Marli Siu.

Each is given her space to shine by Alan Sharp and Michael Caton-Jones’s screenplay, which skilfully adapts Alan Warner’s widely acclaimed novel The Sopranos, without compromising the source material’s gloriously profane and swaggeringly musical spirit. This is the author’s second book to be made into a film (following Morvern Callar) and a long-gestating labour of love for veteran Scottish director Caton-Jones, who optioned it 20 years ago.

The film will be in cinemas across the UK & Ireland on Friday, 27th August 2021.