Film

Ladies in Black

Name: Ladies in Black
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2018
Cast: Rachael Taylor, Julia Ormond, Angourie Rice, Ryan Corr, Nicholas Hammond

Drama

A warm, colour-soaked comedy about a group of department store workers in 1959 Sydney finding friendship, confidence and new lives behind the counter. It's gentle and generous, interested in how ordinary people become themselves. Made for anyone who loves ensemble casts, vintage aesthetics, and stories where growing up means belonging.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love quiet, observant films about ordinary working lives, where the pleasure lies in small kindnesses, period texture and the slow warmth of characters who feel like people you once knew.

Skip it if you want a story that drives hard toward a big event, since this one wanders through shop-floor days and conversations, and its gentle comedy may feel thin if you need plot momentum.

What it asks of you: Settle in for about an hour and a half of unhurried scenes, where attention to faces, clothes and everyday chatter does more of the work than any sudden turn.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mamma Mia!2008

An ensemble of charismatic actors singing through joy and second chances in a sun-drenched setting. The pleasure comes from watching people be unabashedly happy together, just like Ladies in Black.

But It's a full musical with dancing. If you want humour and heart without the song numbers, this might feel like too much.

Calendar Girls2003

Older women claiming space and joy for themselves, building unlikely friendship through a shared project. A British comedy-drama with real warmth and a similar 'ordinary people do something together' engine.

But The tone veers more toward sentiment than Ladies in Black. Some moments lean harder into earnestness than comedy.

A Good Year2006

A man discovers who he really is through a sun-drenched journey with a group of charismatic people. Same register of visual warmth and the feeling that being somewhere beautiful with good company changes you.

But Russell Crowe doing whimsy is divisive. The plot is thin and relies heavily on charm rather than substance.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Ladies in Black

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Breakfast at Tiffany's1961

Both films use retail/aspirational spaces and stylish surfaces to explore female self-discovery, but where Ladies in Black is warm ensemble comedy, this is cool and ultimately melancholic.

Audrey Hepburn in New York discovering who she is through friendship and style, set in a world of surfaces that reveal deeper truths. A different country and decade, but the DNA of young women finding themselves through glamour and connection is the same.

But The racial caricature is jarring and indefensible. You have to decide if the film's other qualities survive that, and for many they don't.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel2012

An ensemble of older actors finding reinvention and friendship in colour and light. Warm, funny, genuinely interested in people discovering they're not finished living their best lives.

But It can feel a bit like a postcard—pretty and uplifting but sometimes shallow about the lives it's depicting.

Hairspray2007

A diverse ensemble discovering power and belonging through defying convention in a vibrant, retro world. Joyful and funny, with real heart underneath the sparkle and spectacle.

But The musical numbers are constant and the tone is relentlessly buoyant. Sustained cheerfulness isn't everyone's preference.

Steel Magnolias1989

Six women's lives intersect with genuine humour and devastating tenderness. A masterclass in balancing comedy and real emotion through female friendship and community.

But The film pivots toward genuine tragedy in the third act. If you're looking for unbroken lightness, prepare for emotional whiplash.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Pure entertainment in a backstage world of ambition and connection. The visual joy and charisma of the ensemble cast create that same sense of watching people become who they want to be.

But It's a full musical from the 1950s. If older film conventions feel dated or you're not into spectacle, it might feel remote.

Bend It Like Beckham2002

Young women discovering themselves and friendship through shared passion. The ensemble warmth and cross-cultural playfulness have a similar spirit to Ladies in Black, just younger and more sports-focused.

But The plot is fairly straightforward and predictable. The coming-of-age structure moves through beats you might see coming.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day2008

A woman reimagines herself in a glamorous 1930s world, discovering confidence through unexpected friendship. Pastel-coloured, stylish, and genuinely charming about becoming more yourself.

But The fantasy of reinvention is offered without complications. It's more escapist than grounded, which some find thin.

A Room of One's Own1991

Both explore how women find voice and power through community and economic independence, but this strips away the warmth and specificity to get at the bone-deep argument underneath.

An animated chamber piece adaptation of Virginia Woolf's essay about women, independence and the spaces required to flourish. Visually lush, intellectually generous, and unexpectedly funny about the economics of female ambition.

But It's experimental animation based on a philosophical essay, not a narrative. If you want plot and character arcs, this is radically different.

La Vie en Rose2007

Both are period ensemble pieces about women discovering power in worlds of glamour and style, but Ladies in Black is a comedy about ordinary belonging while this is a tragedy about extraordinary hunger and its cost.

Édith Piaf's rise from street kid to legend, filmed in expressionistic bursts of colour and time. A woman becoming herself through will and talent, surrounded by those who shape and love her, but at a much darker, more complicated cost.

But Marion Cotillard's performance is so intense and the film so restlessly stylish that it's exhausting. The beauty comes with real pain and suffering.