Production Companies Arts Council of England (in association with) (presents), BBC Films (presents), Studio Canal (A Canal+ Company), Tiger Aspect Productions (as A Tiger Aspect Pictures Production), WT2 Productions (in association with) (as WT²), Working Title Films (present
Studio Arts Council of England, BBC, Tiger Aspect Pictures, Title Films, WT2
Other Titles • Billy Elliot (2000) • Dancer • more
Synopses for Billy Elliot (2000)
1.
"A Sure-Fire Crowd Pleaser!" -New York Daily News "Two Thumbs Up!" rave Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper and the Movies. Billy Elliot is the heartwarming story of a young boy from a working-class family who discovers a passion that will change his life forever. Eleven-year-old miner's son Billy Elliot is on his way to boxing lessons when he stumbles upon a ballet class. Billy secretly joins the class, knowing that his blue-collar family would never understand. Under the guidance of his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson (Academy Award-nominee Julie Walters), Billy's raw talent takes flight. But when his father discovers his son's ambition, Billy must fight for his dreams and his destiny.
With Oscar®-worthy performances, Rex Reed (The New York Observer) calls "a triumph!" Don't miss Billy Elliot - the triumphant tale of one boy who reaches beyond his place in the world to follow his heart's desire.
(23 votes)
2.
The life of 11-year old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), a coal miner's son in Northern England, is forever changed one day when he stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly boxing lesson. Before long he finds himself in dance, demonstrating the kind of raw talent seldom seen by the class's exacting instructor, Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters). With a tart tongue and a never-ending stream of cigarettes in her hand, Mrs. Wilkinson's zest for teaching is revived when she sees Billy's potential. Rather forgetting the other ballerinas, she's drawn into teaching her new protégé.
But Billy must keep his participation in the class a secret from his widowed father (Gary Lewis) and overbearing brother (Jamie Draven), as both men are on strike from their jobs at the mine, and are struggling just to keep food on the table. Their pent up frustrations finally explode when they discover Billy has been squandering his boxing money on less than manly pursuits.
Banned from ballet, and troubled by the diminishing mental capacity of his grandmother (Jean Heywood), Billy finds solace with his school friend Michael (Stuart Wells) which deepens into a touching friendship. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkinson encourages Billy to try out for the Royal Ballet School in London, where he can refine his craft while escaping his oppressive surroundings.
But he is torn between his responsibility to his family and to the gift with which he has been blessed. For his overwhelming desire to dance is more than a means of self-expression. It is his passion, and it is his destiny.
(23 votes)
3.
Foursquare in the gritty-but-hearwarming tradition of Brassed Off and The Full Monty comes Billy Elliot, the first film of noted British theatrical director Stephen Daldry. The setting is County Durham in 1984, and things 'oop North are even grimmer than usual: the miners' strike is in full rancorous swing and 11-year-old Billy's dad and older brother, miners both, are staunch on the picket lines. Billy's got problems of his own. His dad's scraped together the fees to send him to boxing lessons, but Billy's discovered a different aptitude: a genius for ballet dancing. Since admitting to such an activity is tantamount, in this fiercely macho culture, to holding up a sign reading "I AM A RAVING POOF", Billy keeps it quiet. But his teacher, Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters, wearily undaunted) thinks he should audition for ballet school in London. Family ructions are inevitable.
Daldry's film sidesteps some of the politics, both sexual and otherwise, but scores with its laconic dialogue (credit to screenwriter Lee Hall) and a cracking performance from newcomer Jamie Bell as Billy. His powerhouse dance routines, more Gene Kelly than Nureyev, carry an irresistible sense of exhilaration and self-discovery. Among a flawless supporting cast Stuart Wells stands out as Billy's sweet gay friend Michael. And if the miners' strike serves largely as background colour, there's one brief episode, as visored and truncheoned cops rampage through neat little terraced houses, that captures one of the most spiteful episodes in recent British history. --Philip Kemp
(21 votes)
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