Billy Elliot Stephen Daldry

Box office

Billy Elliot premiered on 19 May at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival under the title Dancer.[17] It was later decided to re-title the film Billy Elliot to avoid confusion with Dancer in the Dark, another film at Cannes that year. Billy Elliot was theatrically released on 29 September 2000 in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures through United International Pictures. In the United States, Universal Focus released the film on 13 October 2000.[18] Against expectations, the film grossed $109,280,263 worldwide, including $24 million in the United Kingdom and $22 million in the United States and Canada.[18][19] Universal Home Entertainment released Billy Elliot on VHS on 20 April 2001, and on Blu-ray on 10 January 2012. The Blu-ray includes a short documentary of the film's production.[20][21]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 119 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Billy Elliot is a charming movie that can evoke both laughter and tears."[22] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[24]

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, calling the film "as much parable and fantasy as it is realistic". He said Bell's performance was "engaging", Lewis was "convincing" and Walters was "spirited and colourful".[25] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised the film saying, "This is a film with a lot of charm, a lot of humour and a lot of heart. Daldry's direction and the screenplay by Lee Hall distinguish themselves further in the discreet, intelligent way ... Billy Elliot has a freshness that makes it a pleasure to watch; it's a very emphatic success".[26] David Rooney of Variety also praised the cast, writing, "Relationships between all the characters are well observed—the father and his sons, the two brothers, and Billy and his grandmother, his friend Michael and jaded Mrs. Wilkinson—all of them yielding sweet, unforced feel-good moments". Rooney also praised the cinematography, visuals and soundtrack in showing Billy's rebelliousness.[27] Charlotte O'Sullivan of The Independent wrote the cast are "near perfect", adding the film is "as raw a slice of escapism as you could wish for".[28] William Gallagher from the BBC gave the film five out of five stars, writing, "It's a simple tale but one that is extremely well told and acted. Fittingly for a story about dance, it doesn't put a foot wrong and is engrossing, funny, very sad, very moving and very uplifting."[29]

Some critics gave a mixed response. Timeout magazine believes that "Daldry overuses the dance as a metaphor for escape and frustration, and choreographer Peter Darling's grandstanding ballet numbers sit a little uneasily, given the realist comedy pitch".[30] A. O. Scott of The New York Times notes that there were "patches of thinness and predictability", and that "the first half seems to acknowledge its own triteness". However, he compliments the pacing of the scenes and the actors who "inhabit their roles like second-hand suits".[31] Mark Holcomb, writing for IndieWire, took issue with the "odd, unsuccessful mix of theatrical whimsy and social realism", and a dance scene which he describes as a "cringe-inducing '80s-style music video routine".[32]

Themes

Poverty and social class have been seen as major themes of the film. Author Rebecca Mahon observed the film has a realistic setting; the early scenes emphasising the miners' strike, the death of Billy's mother and the family's financial situation.[33] Daldry adds, "It doesn't matter where you are in the world, people understand the idea that you're part of an industrial, working class group that is being discarded. And its question—of what happens to communities devastated by de-industrialisation and privatisation". In addition to social class, Daldry states that the film is about finding a voice—"someone trying to express himself or herself".[34] Koller-Alonso writes that gender differences are expressed by showing girls attending ballet classes, while their male counterparts are having boxing lessons. Homosexuality, a taboo subject in the 1980s, as well as police brutality are depicted and explored in the film.[35]

Accolades