semi-retired, With Wine Glass In One Hand And Cigarette In The Other, Former ’60s Rock Singer Maggie Sheridan (helen Mirren, prime Suspect, The Queen) Seems Resigned To Life On A Crumbling Country Estate, Ruminating About Her Past. But Everything Changes When A Botched Robbery Leaves Her Friend Sir Charles Stafford Dead And One Of His Prized Paintings Missing. Determined To Retrieve The Masterpiece And Find The Killer, Maggie Plunges Into The Murky Underworld Of The Art Trade. Posing As A Wealthy Polish Countess, She Sets Off On A Treacherous Path From Ireland To London To New York And Back Again. Meanwhile, Sir Charles’s Troubled Son, Sebastian, Embarks On His Own Path Of Discovery. Where The Two Trails Meet, Life Begins To Imitate Art To Deadly Effect.

oscar®-winner Helen Mirren Delivers A Tour-de-force Performance With Strong Supporting Turns By Iain Glen (adam Bede), Lesley Manville (all Or Nothing), Michael Maloney (truly Madly Deeply), And Franco Nero (camelot).

dvd Feature Includes Biography Of Helen Mirren.

nudity And Sexual Situations

Helen Mirren fans will delight in this 1997 Brit-mystery TV film (originally a miniseries) that reportedly was written expressly for her by its writer, Allan Cubitt. Painted Lady equal parts a character study of a remarkable woman (faded blues singer Maggie Sheridan, played by Mirren) and an enthralling murder mystery involving the European art underworld. And a grisly world that is. Mirren’s reclusive Sheridan has taken up residence at the grand Irish estate of her friend Sir Charles Stafford and his troubled son, Sebastian (Iain Glen), and seems content to make her music for a much smaller audience than in her heyday--a handsome young boy toy who may or may not have ulterior motives. When Sir Charles is murdered, Maggie is compelled to help track him down, which means donning a disguise as a wealthy art patron trolling through the art underground looking for a painting stolen at the time of the slaying. Mirren is as deft at playing Maggie the talented almost-has-been singer as she is a fired-up but naïve private investigator. Maggie has none of the street smarts of Mirren’s Prime Suspect character, Jane Tennison--but there’s a steely determination the characters share. Painted Lady is a gripping crime thriller starring one of the best actresses ever. Fancy that? --A.T. Hurley