--- title: "Vera Drake: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/vera-drake/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/vera-drake" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Vera Drake (2004): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 6 reviews: 4 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Vera Drake, with praise centring on Imelda Staunton’s performance and Mike Leigh’s closely observed working-class family life. Staunton is repeatedly credited with making Vera’s kindness and distress convincing, while the ensemble and careful period detail give her surroundings weight. The favourable reviews find that Leigh approaches abortion through people and their circumstances, allowing questions of class and morality to emerge without reducing the characters to spokespeople. The disagreement concerns how much complexity that approach allows. The Los Angeles Times finds Vera and her family too idealised, arguing that Leigh smooths away the difficulties that might make them more persuasive. Eye for Film admires the acting and visual detail but sees a heavy-handed polemic where others find restraint. Radio Times offers a narrower reservation about the persistent dourness. The spread is therefore appreciable, though even the more doubtful reviews praise the performances. ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 September 2004. The critic commends Leigh's skill at contrasting social strata and Staunton's revelatory performance, which captures the shattering of a good person's world. The film confronts difficult themes without preachiness, emphasizing family, humanity, and moral complexity. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/vera-drake/) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 12 October 2004. The critic highlights the film's three-dimensional authenticity in depicting working-class life and family dynamics before the drama unfolds. Staunton's wrenching performance and Leigh's focus on personal tragedy allow the story to transcend typical issue-movie polemics on abortion. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/vera-drake-1798200037) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 4 October 2004. Vera Drake is marvellous, a disciplined and aesthetically harmonized portrait of working-class stoicism and goodness in 1950s London. Leigh brings the yeoman spirit to life without sentiment or condescension, with Imelda Staunton's performance capturing the lyrical resilience in Vera's ceaseless energy and caregiving. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/10/11/playing-parts) ## Radio Times — Dave Aldridge Rating 4/5. The critic highlights Staunton's stunning, Bafta-winning performance as the naive cleaning lady and praises the supporting cast plus Leigh's impeccable period recreation. A minor complaint is that the film is perhaps too relentlessly dark and dour. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-9i29yq/vera-drake/) ## Los Angeles Times — Carina Chocano Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 22 October 2004. Vera Drake is a paean to a bygone society and its genuinely happy working-class families, with Imelda Staunton radiant as the unimpeachable ministering angel Vera. Leigh stacks the deck by varnishing his characters too gloopily and removing complexity, making the film more portrait than story with an overkill airbrush. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-oct-22-et-vera22-story.html) ## Film Comment — Amy Taubin The critic finds the film wonderfully subtle and relentlessly harrowing. She singles out its precise, non-melodramatic depiction of illegal abortion procedures and the central performance. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/hard-labor-vera-drake/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert 21 October 2004. The film is a deep and true portrait of working-class family life rather than a message picture about abortion. Leigh excels at creating palpably real family scenes through his improvisational method, with Imelda Staunton's performance as the kind, naive Vera anchoring the story. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vera-drake-2004) ## Sight and Sound — Ryan Gilbey 1 January 2005. The critic praises Leigh for creating a quiet, compassionate film that methodically documents post-war English class prejudice without nostalgia. Staunton's performance and the production design are highlighted as key strengths in conveying emotional and social devastation. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/657) ## The Guardian — Philip French 9 January 2005. The critic hails Imelda Staunton's portrayal of Vera Drake as a tour de force and calls Mike Leigh's film a masterpiece. He singles out the film's subtle approach to its themes and the morally impressive way it depicts the family coming to terms with the revelation. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/09/philipfrench) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis 8 October 2004. Festival review. Vera Drake is Mike Leigh's best work in a decade, directed with love and beauty as an honest argument about morality and class that emerges from characters' real experiences. The film rings true through its portrait of a nurturing working-class woman whose illegal abortions highlight the inequities of the law. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/movies/motherly-abortionist-gets-entangled-with-the-law.html) ## Time Out — DC 6 December 2011. The review calls it Leigh's best since Secrets & Lies, lauding the authentic period recreation, class commentary, and Staunton's career-topping lead performance as an altruistic abortionist. It notes the film ultimately portrays her as a martyr to an unfair system. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/vera-drake) ## Variety — David Rooney 6 September 2004. Festival review. Mike Leigh is at the peak of his powers with this compassionate, morally complex drama that stands alongside his best work and showcases the rich yield of his rehearsal process. Imelda Staunton gives a revelatory performance in this riveting, profoundly affecting story of a good Samaritan abortionist in post-WWII London. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2004/film/awards/vera-drake-2-1200531272/) ## Eye for Film — David Haviland Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 7 January 2005. The critic praises the film's meticulous period detail, visual style, and excellent ensemble acting led by Imelda Staunton, but finds the explicit focus on the abortion issue makes it feel like a heavy-handed polemic that lacks the emotional nuance and character-driven impact of Leigh's best work. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/vera-drake-film-review-by-david-haviland) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/vera-drake.md