The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of the same title, which follows middle-aged Shirley Valentine in an unexpected discovery of herself and the rekindling of her childhood dreams and youthful love of life.

Shirley Valentine is a bored 42-year-old working class Liverpudlian housewife[2] whose life and initially enriching marriage has settled into a narrow and unsatisfying rut, leaving few genuine friends and her childhood dreams unaccomplished and she feels as if her husband and children treat her more like a servant.

The film was shot on location in Liverpool, Twickenham, Oxford Circus, Bloomsbury, and St Pancras railway station in England, and on the island of Mykonos in Greece.

The film's theme song, "The Girl Who Used to Be Me", was written by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman and performed by Patti Austin.

[6] Radio Times rated the film four out of five stars and added, "Lewis Gilbert manages to retain the best of Willy Russell's theatrical devices while opening out the action to embrace a big-screen atmosphere.

The supporting cast, particularly Bernard Hill as Collins's Neanderthal husband, is equally convincing, with only the hammy Conti (glistening teeth and appalling accent) striking a momentary false note.

Ms. Collins brings as much energy and warmth to the role as ever, but on screen the strength of her performance is shattered by being chopped into tiny, disconnected bits.

"[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times likewise rated the film one star, calling it "a realistic drama of appalling banality."

He added, "There were moments during the movie when I cringed at the manipulative dialogue as the heroine recited warmed-over philosophy and inane one-liners when she should have been allowed to speak for herself.

He isn't a bad bloke, just a tired and indifferent one, and when he follows his wife to Greece at the end of the film, there are a few moments so truthful that they show up the artifice of the rest.

"[9] In the UK, after opening nationwide, it was number one for three consecutive weeks[10][11] and was the highest-grossing independent British film of the year, with a gross of £11.5 million.