It is a true story about the women of the Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire, England. In 1999, one of the ladies husbands became ill with leukemia and dies. In order to raise funds for cancer research the women decided to make an alternative calendar of themselves in the nude hoping to sell a few hundred copies around their villages. This calendar in fact became a worldwide sensation, raising an astonishing 500,000 pounds ($1 million US dollars) in profit for the local hospital.

"Calendar Girls" retells the story as a very slightly risqué comedy. The movie stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, two British actresses whose names may not be familiar but whose faces graced dozens of films (Gosford Park, Educating Rita) over the last two decades. When the idea of a nude calendar is first raised, some of these middle-aged women, ranging in age from 45 to 60, are appalled while others are titillated, but all of them share the one thought we nudists never worry about: “How will I look nude?”

The process of how they come to terms with their own body and shame issues is handled by some very thoughtful scriptwriting as each individual month’s pose shows the women doing some sort of traditional club activity with their flower pots, pastry buns, etc. tastefully hiding the more strategic body parts of the more shy.

There is of course opposition, supplied by reactionary elements in the local and national Women’s Institute and Mirren makes a speech to the national convention that Winston Churchill would have been proud of. After the calendar becomes a best-seller, success starts to go to a few heads, while others become so consumed by the calendar sales they start to neglect their families and duities at work. Eventually they come to terms with what "success" really means and they travel to Los Angeles and an appearance on the Tonight Show.

Calendar Girls is a sweetly touching comedy about friendship and bravery that audiences should find charming and heartwarming. It deserves a peek.