Dance with a Stranger (1985)

Directed by

Mike Newell

Genre

drama film, biographical film, crime film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 41m

Rated

R

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 54 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a biographical drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in Britain. It follows her relationship with a man and the events leading to her arrest and hanging.

tensemelancholicsombergrittyslow-burnbleakperiod piececharacter-driven

What happens

Dance with a Stranger is a 1985 British film directed by Mike Newell. Telling the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain (1955), the film won critical acclaim, and aided the careers of two of its leading actors, Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett. The screenplay was by Shelagh Delaney, author of A Taste of Honey, and was her third major screenplay. The story of Ellis has resonance in Britain because it provided part of the background to the extended national debates that led to the progressive abolition of capital punishment from 1965. The theme song, a cover version of Peggy Lee's 1951 track "Would You Dance with a Stranger?", was performed by Mari Wilson and released as a single. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Murder Elite (1985)
• Déjà Vu (1985)
• 1919 (1985)
• James Joyce's Women (1985)
• Soldaten zonder geweren (1985)
• Yield to the Night (1956)
• A Sense of Freedom (1985)
• In the Name of the Father (1993)