Plot summary for
Vera Drake (2004)

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Vera Drake is a selfless woman who is completely devoted to, and loved by, her working class family. She spends her days doting on them and caring for her sick neighbor and elderly mother. However, she also secretly visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. While the practice itself was illegal in 1950s England, Vera sees herself as simply helping women in need, and always does so with a smile and kind words of encouragement. When the authorities finally find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly unravel. Written by Sujit R. Varma

In 1950, in London, Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) is a simple woman of a low-class but happy family. She works cleaning upper-class houses; her beloved husband is a mechanic and works with his brother in a repair shop; her son is a tailor; and her daughter tests and packs electric lamps. The helpful Vera is a very good and cooperative woman, helping her sick mother, a handicapped neighbor and whoever needs her. She also induces miscarriages in women who do not want to have children--without any remuneration. When a woman whose husband is serving overseas falls pregnant as the result of an affair has complications with her intervention and goes to the hospital, the police investigate the occurrence, and the world--and the family--of Vera fall apart with this tragedy. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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