James Wilby, fresh from a painful divorce, returns to his childhood home to visit his ailing mother, and to persuade her to sell the estate before she dies. When he arrives, he finds a young man, Jamie Dornan, has been keeping his mother company. Even though we know nor learn anything about him, Dornan becomes a fixture in each member of the family's life.
Jean Simmons plays the ailing grandmother. It's pretty sad to see her so frail, since she died the following year of lung cancer. The rest of the movie flounders about in the general vicinity of depression. Wilby is an absent father, Simmons is treated with disrespect, and both grandchildren are troubled and long for guidance. Unlike other dysfunctional family movies, there's nothing particularly devastating about their problems, which makes for a more realistic but less interesting story. Unless you really like these types of depressing movies, I'd skip this one.
Jean Simmons plays the ailing grandmother. It's pretty sad to see her so frail, since she died the following year of lung cancer. The rest of the movie flounders about in the general vicinity of depression. Wilby is an absent father, Simmons is treated with disrespect, and both grandchildren are troubled and long for guidance. Unlike other dysfunctional family movies, there's nothing particularly devastating about their problems, which makes for a more realistic but less interesting story. Unless you really like these types of depressing movies, I'd skip this one.