An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (film)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is a 1982 British psychological thriller directed by Chris Petit. It stars Billie Whitelaw, Paul Freeman, and Pippa Guard. The film follows Cordelia Gray, a young private investigator who inherits a detective agency after her former boss’s death. She is hired to investigate the mysterious suicide of Mark Callendar, a gifted university student who suddenly changed his life and died at a cottage. As Cordelia digs deeper, she uncovers dark family secrets and a planned murder.

Plot
Cordelia is hired by Mark Callendar’s wealthy father, James, and his aloof assistant, Elizabeth. She visits the cottage where Mark died and then the Callendar country house, where she learns more about his life. Family friend Andrew and Mark’s university friend Isobel give conflicting stories. Cordelia discovers unsettling clues, including lipstick found on Mark’s mouth, which suggests a woman was involved. She learns that Mark’s mother Eve died when he was young, and a secret about his birth may be connected to Mark’s death.

Cordelia follows the clues to uncover that Mark was not Eve’s biological son. Elizabeth reveals she actually gave birth to Mark for the infertile Eve, as part of a arranged plan by James to provide an heir. James later murders Mark by staging it as a suicide and dressing the body in women’s lingerie and lipstick to humiliate him. Cordelia is attacked by Andrew and nearly drowns in a well, but survives. In the end, Elizabeth confirms the truth to Cordelia and confronts James; she shoots him to death, and authorities take Elizabeth away. Cordelia’s sleuthing exposes the truth behind Mark’s “suicide.”

Cast
- Billie Whitelaw as Elizabeth Leaming
- Paul Freeman as James Callendar
- Pippa Guard as Cordelia Gray
- Dominic Guard as Andrew Lunn
- Elizabeth Spriggs as Miss Markland
- David Horovitch as Sergeant Maskell
- Dawn Archibald as Isobel
- Bernadette Shortt as Temp
- James Gilbey as Boy
- Kelda Holmes as Girl
- Margaret Wade as Secretary
- Alex Guard as Mark Callendar

Release and reception
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman opened in London on May 13, 1982. It was entered into the Berlin International Film Festival. The film had a difficult box-office showing: Goldcrest Films contributed about £316,000, roughly half the production budget of £750,000, and the movie ultimately lost money for the investors.

Critical response was mixed. The New York Times’ Janet Maslin praised the film’s English-country-house atmosphere but criticized pacing, transitions, and the final act, calling the lead performance by Petit “lifeless.” Variety suggested that the director’s distance from the material kept the story from delivering a stronger narrative and momentum.

Adaptations
The film was the first adaptation of P. D. James’s novel An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. It later inspired a television series adaptation in 1997.