''Stella Does Tricks'' is a 1996 British drama film about a young

Glaswegian The Glasgow dialect, popularly known as the Glasgow patter or Glaswegian, varies from Scottish English at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum to the local dialect of West Central Scots at the other. Therefore, the speech of many Glaswegian ...

girl, played by

Kelly Macdonald Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles in ''Trainspotting'' (1996), ''Gosford Park'' (2001), ''Intermission'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), ''No Country for Old Men'' (2007), ''Boardwalk E ...

, working as a prostitute in London. The film was the first feature film directed by

Coky Giedroyc Mary Rose Helen "Coky" Giedroyc (; born 6 February 1963) is an English director known for her work on '' Women Talking Dirty'', '' The Virgin Queen'', ''The Nativity'', and ''Penny Dreadful''. Early life Giedroyc was born in Kowloon on 6 Febru ...

, inspired by her previous work making documentaries about homeless people in Glasgow,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and provided Macdonald with her first film role after ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundt ...

''.Allon, Yoram; Patterson, Hannah & Hodges, Mike (2001) ''Contemporary British and Irish Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide'', Wallflower Press, , p. 111 The film has been described as "an uncompromisingly feminist text, in which the Baby Doll turns Avenger",Campbell, Russell (2005) ''Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema'', University of Wisconsin Press, , p. 302-304 and by Lawrence van Gelder of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as a "bleak, perceptive portrait of the prostitute as a young girl torn between the need for genuine love and a career of sexual exploitation".van Gelder, Lawrence (2001) ''Stella Does Tricks'' in ''The New York Times Film Reviews 1999-2000'', Routledge, , p. 230-231 Despite the film centering on the lives of female prostitutes, the only nudity in the film is male nudity.Leach, Jim (2004) ''British Film'', Cambridge University Press, , p. 142 The screenplay was written by the novelist

A. L. Kennedy Alison Louise Kennedy (born 22 October 1965) is a Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and is known for her dark tone and her blending of realism and fantasy. She contributes columns ...

, and draws in part on one of her earlier stories, ''Friday Payday''.Petrie, Duncan J. (2004) ''Contemporary Scottish Fiction: Film, Television and the Novel'', Edinburgh University Press'', , p. 73 Cinematography was by frequent

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

collaborator

Barry Ackroyd Barry Ackroyd, BSC (born 12 May 1954) is an English cinematographer and director. Ackroyd has frequently worked with directors Ken Loach and Paul Greengrass. He worked on Kathryn Bigelow's 2008 war film '' The Hurt Locker'' as well as the c ...

.McFarlane, Brian & Slide, Anthony (2003) ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'', Methuen, , p. 2, 251

Plot

Stella is one of a number of young prostitutes working for the pimp Mr. Peters in London, having run away from her Glasgow home where she was

sexually abused Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

by her father, a stand-up comedian. She tries to get away from Peters and becomes involved with Eddie, a heroin addict, before taking her revenge on Peters and her father.

Cast

as Stella *

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in '' The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy F ...

as Mr. Peters *

Hans Matheson Hans Matheson (born 7 August 1975) is a Scottish actor and musician. In a wide-ranging film and television career he has taken lead roles in diverse films such as '' Doctor Zhivago'', '' Sherlock Holmes'', ''The Tudors'', '' Tess of the d'Urbe ...

as Eddie *

Ewan Stewart Andrew Ewan Stewart (born 26 August 1957) is a Scottish film, television and stage actor. Early life Stewart was born in Glasgow, and is the son of the late Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart. His mother Sheila lives in Arbroath, Scotland. St ...

as Francis *

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation, and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Go ...

as Fitz

References

External links

* {{Coky Giedroyc British drama films 1996 films 1996 drama films Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom Incest in film 1990s feminist films Films set in London 1990s English-language films 1990s British films