How
About You?Humorous
tugs at the heartstrings
I’m
sure this film should’ve been run over the Xmas holidays.
It almost belongs to those Bing Crosby style of Xmas nostalgia
trips. Although the acting is impeccable, the story line gives
grounds for a touch of scepticism. It’s an essay into old
age and redemption through a young spirit. Adapted from a short
story by Maeve Binchy, it does feature an all-star if mature cast;
with names like Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton and Joss Ackland.
You’d expect top flight performances and you’ll not
be disappointed.
Set in Ireland, Ellie (Hayley Atwell) is a bright
headstrong young thing who’s left in charge of her elder
sister Kate’s (Orla Bradly) home for the aged over the Xmas
holiday break. Most of the inmates have gone to spend the time
with their families, but left in Ellie’s care are the most
difficult of the residents, grumpy trouble makers known as the
“hard core”. Georgia (Vanessa Redgrave) ex movie siren,
retired high court judge Donald (Joss Ackland), the spinster sisters
gloomy Hazel (Imelda Staunton) and bossy Heather (Brenda Fricker).
Faced with the four cantankerous oldies, a desperate
Ellie contends until Xmas Day, when after conniptions over Xmas
dinner she takes them on and wins the war; even saving the aged
care home in the process. The incorrigible four find meaning in
their lives through Ellie, their rough surfaces much smoothed.
The residential home is lavish by our standards
and set in delightful countryside. You can hardly see what the
inmates are moaning about. The problem is the glib change of characters
on Xmas day. It’s all a too good to be true. For starters
it seems unlikely young Ellie would be capable of running the
home on her own, let alone so quickly sort out the psychological
problems of these most irritating guests. It requires a great
leap of faith here. Yet as directed by Anthony Byrne (Short
Order) the performances are heartfelt.
Vanessa
Redgrave (Atonement) seems to be drawing on her own experience
as the retired movie star. She does this with utmost conviction.
Joss Ackland (Flawless) is a natural as the gruff unbending
old duffer, while Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) and Brenda
Fricker (Closing The Ring) work superbly together as
the younger spinsters of the piece.
One must also mention the small but important and
perhaps most moving role of Joan O’Hara (Moondance)
as Alice a woman on the verge of death, the first of the oldies
to stir compassion in young Ellie. Hayley Atwell (Brideshead
Revisited) is confident as the willful young woman who learns
the value of family, no matter how dysfunctional that family may
be. Orla Bradly (The Luzhin Defence) plays a good foil
to Hayley Atwell, the opposite to her freewheeling nature as the
serious minded and regulated Kate under stress to keep the home
financial.
Overall the mood is much lighter than you’d
expect from the material, with humour injected by such scenes
as hash biscuits being enjoyed by the cranky residents. There’s
also the lyric beauty of the countryside, aided by a clever choice
of music. Finally it’s an actors film and makes the most
of it’s cast. Whatever plot reservations may be swept away
by the earnestness of the characters. While there’s a certain
nostalgic sadness - “I miss being young” cries Alice
- there are many lyrical moments; as well as Ellie shouting home
truths at the unruly in this emotional journey to salvation in
God’s waiting room, and finding a soft core to the hard
shell of aging.
John Bale
