No, not one of Florian Zeller's plays, but a good tribute to Roger Michell, who died recently and too young, displaying his skill, no doubt acquired in the theatre, as a great actors' director, in which everyone gives a good performance and the direction isn't fussy. Ostensibly about a repressed woman finding Life, but as it's a Hanif Kureshi screenplay, everyone has their dark side, leading me to the conclusion that as a 'realist' he's perhaps also a misanthrope? The subtitle could be Everyone's a Shit.
Anne Reid gives a marvellous performance, though the stress is less about 'motherhood' (a duty which she has obviously shirked) and more about her being 'difficult', conducting an affair with the builder (Daniel Craig) who she knows is in a relationship with her flaky, damaged daughter, Cathryn Bradshaw. Steven Mackintosh is her son (who clearly doesn't have a great relationship with her either), who's married to vacuous Anna Wilson-Jones.
Good use of sound - the chaos at the beginning versus the moments of quiet / silence (it's never silent in films). (Danny Hambrook supervising sound editor / recordist.) And Alwin Küchler catches some lovely moments of changing sunlight.
With Peter Vaughan, Oliver Ford Davies.
Wouldn't watch it again in a hurry.
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