She earns a meagre wage cleaning houses for wealthy families while Sid is an apprentice tailor and Ethel works in a factory testing light bulbs. The Drakes don't have much money but they have love to spare; their house is a genuinely warm and happy place and Vera thinks nothing of inviting their neighbour Reg (Eddie Marsan) to supper because she thinks he isn't eating properly, even though there isn't much food to go round. Post-war rationing is very much in evidence but Vera is able to purchase sugar and tea, which are in desperately short supply, on the black market from her good friend Lily (Ruth Sheen), whom she has known since they were children together. Secretly, Vera hopes that Reg might take a shine to the somewhat introverted Ethel so she is thrilled when romance blossoms. Reg's subsequent marriage proposal - and Ethel's joyous acceptance - is the best Christmas present that Vera and Stan could have hoped for, tempered slightly by the annual visit from Stan's brother Frank (Adrian Scarborough) and his wife Joyce (Heather Craney), with her upwardly mobile aspirations and snooty manner. Unbeknownst to her loving family, Vera leads a secret life: without accepting any payment, she "helps young women" who have fallen pregnant and cannot have their babies. Using a mixture of hot water and soap, Vera induces miscarriages, providing the young women with a crude yet effective way out from their predicament. Vera's patients are invariably from working- or lower-middle class backgrounds and cannot afford the cost of a termination. An illegal abortion, performed with tenderness and kind words of reassurance by the perennially cheerful Vera, is their only salvation. When one girl, whom Vera has "helped", falls dangerously ill following the procedure, the police swoop, exposing Vera's secret to her shocked family and neighbours. Committed to trial and facing a prison sentence of at least 18 months, Vera looks to her loved ones for the emotional support to sustain her through the dark days ahead. Mike Leigh's immaculate period piece was the cause celebre of the 2004 Venice Film Festival where it scooped the Golden Lion for Best Film and the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress. These victories were all the sweeter because the Cannes Film Festival had controversially rejected Vera Drake. If there is any justice, Staunton will go on to claim the Oscar as Best Actress too. Sadly, as Leigh's film demonstrates with such precision and emotional force, the deserving often go without. Staunton is the lynchpin of the entire ensemble and her portrayal of the clucky mother hen, who spends her life taking care of others, is effortless. For the first half of the picture, she bustles and trills about her day-to-day business, visiting sick friends and regaling them with stories from the local community, but not before a nice cup of tea. "She's got an 'eart of gold that one," remarks a neighbour, echoing the sentiments of all. Even when Vera performs her abortions, her demeanour doesn't change. "Right then dear, first thing we've got to do is put the kettle on," she cheerfully instructs a terrified young patient. This natural exuberance and love of life immediately endears Vera to us - here is a woman who makes the best out of her scant lot in life, and ultimately possesses a deeper happiness and sense of well-being that Mrs Wells (Lesley Manville) or any of the other wealthy clients for whom she toils. When Detective Inspector Webster (Peter Wight), Detective Sergeant Vickers (Martin Savage) and other uniformed officers finally arrive at Vera's door and arrest her, the heroine's transformation is devastating. Staunton's face visibly crumples and we see the tears begin to well as she sits down with the police to confess all, desperately pleading to keep her supposed crimes secret from her family. "I know why you're here," she whimpers. "Why are we here?" replies DI Webster solemnly. "Cos of what I do." "What is it that you do Mrs Drake?" "I 'elp young girls out." "You help young girls out?" "Who else they gonna turn to? They got no one!" Vera sobs, refuting the officer's suggestion that the terminations are a criminal matter. "No dear, that's what you call it." Davis is excellent in support and there are colourful turns from Mays as the son who is initially disgusted by his mother's behaviour, and Kelly as the shrinking violet who blooms in the flushes of love. Marsan is enchanting as the neighbour who quickly becomes part of the Drake family. At the end of the film, when Vera has been allowed home before her trial and Reg tells Vera, "This has been the best Christmas ever," we're almost as choked as her. Leigh's screenplay, created during weeks of improvisation and rehearsal with his cast members, meticulously sketches the relationships between the various characters in the most minute detail. It's an intimate and expertly crafted story of the enduring power of love and injustice, contrasting Vera's secret life with the trials faced by Mrs Wells's daughter, Susan (Sally Hawkins), who is raped and seeks a legal termination at a discreet clinic for the extortionate sum of £100. The private doctor and psychiatrist, who deal with Susan, are emotionally cold and distant, in stark contrast to Vera's natural compassion. Susan's parents know nothing of her harrowing ordeal or the termination and although she abides by the letter of the law, she has no one to tend to her wounds or to soothe her fears. At least Vera's girls have her to hold their hand and comfort them. That kind of care is worth far more than £100. It's priceless.