Precious (2009) on Netflix
In 1987 Harlem, sixteen-year-old Claireece Jones, called Precious, is pregnant with a second child and cannot read. Her principal sends her to an alternative school, where Ms. Blu Rain teaches.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.3/10121,940 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Claireece Jones goes by the name Precious. She is sixteen and lives in her mother's Harlem apartment. Mary abuses her daughter and expects to be waited on. Precious's father, Carl, is absent; he raped her, and she is carrying a second child. Her first child, a daughter named Mongo, has Down syndrome and stays with Precious's grandmother. Mary keeps the household on welfare checks and has the family pretend, when social workers visit, that Mongo lives with them, so that more money comes in. Precious cannot read, a secret she keeps at school, where she escapes into daydreams of being admired and loved. Her principal, Mrs. Lichtenstein, arranges for her to move to Each One Teach One, an alternative school, where she meets her teacher, Ms. Blu Rain, and girls working toward a GED.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Precious (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Geoffrey Fletcher won Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious, becoming the first African-American to win a screenplay award at the Oscars.
- Gabourey Sidibe was chosen to play Precious over 300 others who auditioned in nationwide casting calls, and she had no prior acting experience at all.
- Lee Daniels said that reading the book brought back a childhood memory of an abused girl who knocked on his family's door claiming her mother was going to kill her; it was the first time he saw his own mother frightened, because she knew she would have to send the girl home.
- In February 2009 Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company filed lawsuits contesting ownership of the rights to release Precious, with The Weinstein Company claiming it had "secured" its rights and Lionsgate stating it owned North American distribution.
- According to director Daniels, Helen Mirren, who starred in his previous film Shadowboxer, was originally set to play the part of Ms. Weiss, but obtained a role in a "bigger project" instead.
- The performer credited as Aunt Dot, who plays Precious's grandmother Betty "Toosie" Johnston, is the real-life aunt of director Lee Daniels.
- Mo'Nique, who plays Precious's unemployed, profane and abusive mother Mary Lee Johnston, had worked with Daniels once before, on Shadowboxer, a film in which Mo'Nique's own character was named Precious.
