It is a film adaptation of An Inspector Calls adapted by The BBC starring David Thewlis as Inspector Goole, Sophie Rundle as Eva Smith, Ken Scott as Mr Arthur Birling, Miranda Richardson as Mrs Sybil Birling, Chloe Pirrie as Sheila Birling, Finley Cole as Eric Birling and Kyle Soller as Gerald Croft. During an enjoyable evening, the wealthy Birling family are celebrating with Gerald over his engagement to the Birling daughter Sheila. However, the night is interrupted by Inspector Goole, who claims to work for the Brumley Police Force. The Inspector reveals that a young woman named Eva Smith living in poverty committed suicide and the he needs to question the family. One by one, the characters reveal their mysterious connection to Eva Smith . . .
This film shows examples of:
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Eva is genuinely kind and is very beautiful too, prettier than Sheila.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gerald apparat to have genuinely loved Eva, and is upset to hear she passed away, but as soon as he believes Eva is not dead and he’s off the hook, he is thrilled to bits and celebrates, much to Sheila and Eric’s disgust.
- Blemished Beauty: Sheila is quite pretty, but very insecure about her appearance, deeming herself basically ugly. This is why she took such a disliking to Eva, a girl prettier than her.
- Brainless Beauty: Sheila at the start.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Mr Birling is uncomfortable with Mrs Birling’s comments about Eva’s death, like when she calls Eva “cowardly” for killing herself while pregnant with a child.
- Girlboss Feminist: Eva Smith believes that women should (rightfully) earn the same amount as money as male workers. As such, seeing as her boss at the Factory she worked at, Mr Birling, is sexist, she knew she wouldn’t achieve this goal. As such, she and her five friends lead a strike where all the female workers stopped working and refused to go into work for almost 3 weeks. Eva was offered a pay raise for herself, with Mr Birling offering to make her a Superior worker, meaning she’d get better pay and would control the other women. He also offered to have sex with her in this version, in exchange for higher wages. Eva declines, partly because she’s disgusted by the obese, old Mr Birling treating her like a Prostitute, and mostly because she is loyal to her Co-workers, male and female, and won’t abandon them so they can starve and live in poverty while Eva gets the perks of the promotion. When Eva is fired from the Factory for refusing to give in to Mr Birling’s demise, you can see the regret and sadness in the other females eyes. The only reason they stopped striking was because they needed money, better small pay than no pay.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Eva has Blonde hair and is very kind. Unfortunately, people were not kind to her.
- Hidden Depths: Sheila is presented as an insecure young woman who believes she’s unattractive. While she did order the Manager to fire Eva just because she was prettier than her, she did instantly regret her actions. Especially after finding out the girl she got fired killed herself.
- Rich Bitch: Mr and Mrs Birling, Mrs Birling in particular.
- Spoiled Brat: Sheila and Eric, Sheila is a sheltered young woman spoiled by her father, and Eric is an immature boy who has been given chances in life poorer boys haven’t. Though he is aware of his privileges, he doesn’t appear grateful exactly. Mrs Birling is also a Rich Bitch from a wealthy family, and Gerald is from a family richer than the Birling’s. Subverted with Mr Birling who grew up poor and had to work for his money, he didn’t have the same chances as his son (though he probably wouldn’t have had those chances if he were a woman).
- Statuesque Stunner: Sheila is relatively pretty, but is insecure and thinks she’s ugly. She also appears to be unhappy with her height, standing at 5 ft 8. The dress she wanted to try on was designed for slimmer ladies, and Sheila is very thin (thinner than Eva) but it’s quite loose on Sheila’s very skinny body and it’s also not designed for her height, the dress barely reaches her ankles when she tries it on. As such, it looks ridiculous on her. In her mother’s words, the dress doesn’t match Sheila’s “figure” which causes Sheila even more insecurity.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Sheila and Mrs Birling are both thin women (Sheila is very skinny) while Sheila’s brother Eric is shorter than her and Mr Birling is shorter than Mrs Birling. Gerald is one of the few people in the film taller than Sheila.
- The Un-Favourite: It’s pretty obvious Mr Birling favours his older child, Sheila, over his son Eric.
- Womanchild: Sheila, though she has character development.
- Women are Wiser: Mrs Birling is more intelligent than Mr Birling (though she is presumably more well-educated seeing as she’s from a wealthier family than Mr Birling). Sure, Mrs Birling struggles to understand implications, but she’s more manipulative and calculating than Mr Birling.
- Sheila, though childish, already knew she did a cruel thing to Eva, even before Inspector Goole visited the family. Sheila only does cruel things because she’s very insecure about her appearance. Meanwhile, her mother and the men (beside Eric) are remorseless and happy when they think they have got away with what they did to Eva.
