Shirley Valentine

Shirley Valentine (1989) is a British tragicomedy you can watch online on iFILM, about a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who runs off to Greece on a whim.

Shirley (Pauline Collins) cooks her husband's egg and chips and talks to the kitchen wall, because there's no one else left to talk to. The kids are grown, the marriage went quiet years ago, and the bold girl she used to be is just a name now. When her best friend wins a trip for two to the Aegean, Shirley goes — a fortnight away, no explanations. Greek sun, wine by the water and a charming taverna owner named Costas hand her back an appetite for her own life.

Lewis Gilbert adapted Willy Russell's one-woman stage play, and Pauline Collins — who had already played Shirley in the theatre — earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the role. The film keeps breaking the fourth wall, with Shirley talking straight to the camera so the audience becomes her confidant. It's for anyone who has ever wanted to walk out the door just to see if this is really the life they meant to have. Stream Shirley Valentine (1989) online on iFILM.