IMDb > Billy Elliot (2000)
Billy Elliot
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Billy Elliot (2000) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 50 | slideshow) Videos (see all 4 NEW)
Billy Elliot (2000) -- Home Video Preview
Billy Elliot (2000) -- Elton John sat down with Katie Couric and spoke candidly about his latest project, a musical version of the film, "Billy Elliot."
Billy Elliot (2000) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)
Billy Elliot (2000) -- Virgin.net Movies - Trailer (WMP)

Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   35,338 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 13% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Stephen Daldry
Writer:
Lee Hall (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Billy Elliot on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
29 September 2000 (UK) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama | Music more
Tagline:
Inside every one of us is a special talent waiting to come out. The trick is finding it.
Plot:
A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 49 wins & 54 nominations more
User Comments:
Simply excellent more (405 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jamie Bell ... Billy Elliot
Jean Heywood ... Grandma
Jamie Draven ... Tony Elliot
Gary Lewis ... Dad (Jackie Elliot)
Stuart Wells ... Michael Caffrey
Mike Elliot ... George Watson
Billy Fane ... Mr. Braithwaite
Nicola Blackwell ... Debbie Wilkinson

Julie Walters ... Mrs. Wilkinson
Carol McGuigan ... Librarian
Joe Renton ... Gary Poulson
Colin MacLachlan ... Mr. Tom Wilkinson (as Colin Maclachlan)
Janine Birkett ... Billy's Mum
Trevor Fox ... PC Jeff Peverly
Charlie Hardwick ... Sheila Briggs
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Dancer (France) (festival title) (UK) (working title)
Billy Elliot (France)
more
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for some thematic material. (edited version)
Runtime:
110 min
Country:
UK | France
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The musical version of the film, which hit the West End in 2005 to rave reviews and numerous awards and nominations, reportedly cost £5.5 million to make: around £3 million more than the film version. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: When Mrs. Wilkinson drives Billy home, they go across the Transporter Bridge, which is in Middlesbrough, about 30 miles south of Durham. Assuming they both live in the same town, this is some detour. more
Quotes:
Grandma: I used to go to ballet.
Billy: See?
Dad: All right for your Nana, for girls. No, not for lads, Billy. Lads do football... or boxing... or wrestling. Not friggin' ballet.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Will & Grace: The Finale (#8.23)" (2006) more
Soundtrack:
I Love to Boogie more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
43 out of 47 people found the following comment useful.
Simply excellent, 22 November 2004
10/10
Author: Juni78ukr (juni78ukr@yahoo.com) from Odessa, Ukraine

I have been looking for Billy Elliot for more than two years. I heard that it should be very good or even excellent film and another reason for watching it was that I have seen several Working Title films before (About a Boy, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and I found all of them much more sincere and emotional than average Hollywood products. Also these British films have something to offer that you rarely can find in Hollywood movies: a charming heartwarming mixture of sweet and funny comedy and inspiring and touching drama. Last month, finally, I found the tape. From very first moments of the movie my eyes were riveted to the screen and when the movie ended feelings and emotions overflowed me. Billy Elliot in my opinion Billy Elliot is a brilliant movie, easily one of the best movies of the year and most likely of the current decade.

Director of the movie Stephen Daldry brought to us an exceptional, truly inspiring and moving, emotional and poignant movie. The entire story and all the characters are completely believable and the atmosphere of small provincial town somewhere in North-Eastern England skillfully captured and transmitted to us. Sometimes the movie is sad, sometimes it's funny but Stephen Daldry's work never leave you indifferent. The story occurs in a small coal-mining town in 1984 and there are signs of a severe depression all over the town. You can see all around a shadow of distress and even poverty. Some simple but incredibly powerful scenes bring to us sad feeling of hopelessness and even despair. There is a big coalminers strike in the town but it's easy to see that it's also the hopeless strike. But all this is only a masterfully recreated background for main story of the title character, a twelve years old boy. He recently lost his mother and both his father and elder brother are striking coalminers. Billy is forced by his father to attend boxing classes and one day accidentally he see the girl ballet classes that occur in same room and he find ballet much more interesting than hated stupid boxing. So he attends those ballet classes instead the boxing and there is nothing surprising that after a few weeks his father suddenly finds out that Billy didn't attend boxing and worst of all he is attending the ballet classes. The main conflict occurs.

Billy must fight for his choice, fight against his own family. There are two stereotypes against him. First one is that ballet for girls, not for boys (lads do football... or boxing... or wrestling). And second sounds even worse: all male ballet dancers are gays. Billy is not but no one from his family except aged grandma want even heard about ballet. There are only two people in the whole town, who support him – middle-aged ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson and his friend Michael, who is the same age as Billy and who found that he is possibly a gay. This gay subplot easily became for conservative audience a very controversial question. But the fact is that such stereotypes are not invented by the director of the movie and if you would try to learn more about this terrific picture you will found that Jamie Bell, who took dance lessons from age six, suffered from similar sneers and taunts. Billy's problem is that he must fight not only against bad obstacles and misunderstanding but also against strong social stereotypes. Several brilliant come scenes and bright humor greatly emphasize the struggles of the main hero.

Jamie Bell playing Billy has on of the best performances ever among young actors. His performance (and particularly dance sequences) is so genuine, bright and sincere that all the time we can easily feel an expression of a young boy, not a director, choreographer or writer. BAFTA award for best actor of the year is well-deserved and it is pity that conservatism of the Academy too often becomes an insuperable obstacle for many great movies. Julie Walters (an Academy nomination for best supporting actress) as Billy's ballet teacher also did a great job as a talented woman as a talented women who forced to teach in small provincial town for pitiful salary. The chemistry between teacher and student is another great line in Billy Elliot. Two other important supporting characters – Billy's father and elder brother Tony are also excellent and their evolution is perfectly showed by Stephen Daldry's direction. The beautiful soundtrack is a perfect combination of a classic (including a nice reference to great Swan Lake) and modern music.

The original "R" rating shouldn't mislead you. Except for strong language it should be easily a PG-13. But this is a very rare case where some strong language and profanity are necessary for authenticity and characters understanding. The movie is suitable for teens and it definitely is able to give some good lessons for them.

10 out of 10 looks well deserved. Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Billy Elliot (2000)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Is billy gay? maxmc
Sexuality is Ambiguous on Purpose nikkimets
Three/Five Billy's on Broadway? LilyMae
They NEED to put the Broadway musical production out on DVD!!! kirstenwv
Billy Elliot: The Musical stagem7
Is There a Movie that's a Bigger Tear-Jerker? hukdonpopmovs
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