This film is miserable – I mean really, truly grim. It is every misery memoir bundled together, compounded, with an extra rapey twist. I think this is the only non-horror film I’ve seen where others in the cinema audience winced and gasped, or even at climactic moments said ‘Don’t go in there!’ Precious is a fairy-tale crossed with a Greek tragedy.

You could be forgiven for thinking, from watching the trailer, that after the first half, the film becomes a standard education-is-the-way-out tale, complete with photogenic and inspirational teacher. But for every time a character tearfully whispers ‘I love you Precious!’ another character tries to kills her by dropping a television down the stairs. The plot of this film, while gruelling, is nothing new – if you really do want to see this film, it would be for the acting, with two incredible central performances by Gabourey Sidibe as Precious and Mo’Nique as Mary, her ogre of a mother.

Precious is the story of Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones, a morbidly obese black teenager, pregnant with her second child. Both children are the result of being raped by her father, and one has Down’s Syndrome. Precious’ mother abuses her, beating her and screaming at her on a daily basis, because she resents the ‘attention’ which Precious’ father gave her. Precious’ life is hideous – her dangerous, debilitating weight is rarely if ever discussed or alluded to on screen, mainly because it’s the least of her worries. When her high school discovers she is pregnant with her second child, they insist she is transferred to an ‘alternative’ school, where for the first time Precious is treated well, learning to read and write with the help of a diligent teacher. However, as I said, any progress which Precious makes is overshadowed by the figure of her mother, who graspingly pursues her ever more high achieving daughter in the hopes of re-obtaining her welfare cheque.

This is a well-made, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted film, but it is one that I never want to watch again.