Country			United Kingdom
Genre			Comedy
Length			1:50
Director			Lewis Gilbert
Writer			Willy Russell
Company			Columbia Pictures
Starring			Michael Caine Julie Walters Michael Williams Maureen Lipman Jeananne Crowley Malcolm Douglas Show more... Michael Caine Julie Walters Michael Williams Maureen Lipman Jeananne Crowley Malcolm Douglas Godfrey Quigley Dearbhla Molloy Patrick Daly Kim Fortune Philip Hurdwood Hilary Reynolds Jack Walsh Christopher Casson Rosamund Burton

The story of a difficult social transition. Rita is a hairdresser who feels that there should be more to life than having a baby with her husband. Feeling unready to accept the fate that society has in store for her, she secretly takes birth control pills behind her husband's back to grant her time to complete an Open University course and sit her exams. There she meets her professor Frank, a failed poet who has turned to alcohol. But Frank is injected with a new zest for life when hearing Rita's unconventional ideas. However, as Rita proceeds with her studies, education not only alienates her from her social class, but as Frank worries, starves her of that original charm that caught his attention in the first place.