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Voice from the Internet Movie Database
Little Voice is the story of an extremely shy young woman called LV (for Little Voice), brilliantly portrayed by Jane Horrocks (who you may have seen in the role of a ditzy secretary called Bubble in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous). She never leaves the house, or the safety of her befroom. When in there, she listens to and learns to mimic some of the classic female Divas like Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, and Marilyn Monroe. Her overly chatty mother's boyfriend (Brenda Blethyn and Micheal "My Name is Micheal Caine" Caine, respectively), discovers her talent, and being an agent himself, he uses his relationship with her mother to exploit LV to regain his career. Ewan McGregor also appears as Billy, a shy telephone installer who is interested in LV.
I really enjoyed this film. It's been said that in the US, films are made that focus on the plot, and much effort is put into coming up with a story. Along with that, European filmmakers focus more on characterization than story. This film comes from England, and there's a lot of great character development here. The story's very entertaining, too.
LV does a great job at mimicry of the voices of the Divas. There are times when you are not entirely certain if you're hearing the record or LV's actual voice. As the credits roll, you are told that Jane Horrocks did all of her own singing. I've read that Jane was actually discovered in this manner, and the movie is an adaptation of a play of the story. Highly recommended!
Some good humor, and one of the funniest and most tragic moments is Micheal Caine butchering a song from Roy Orbison. Brenda Blethyn is definitely a great actress, and I totally believed her in the role of nagging mother.