Mike Leigh, directing without a script, has created a true masterpiece. An emotionally powerful character study, this movie will make you think about your own secrets and lies.
The plot is very simple. Hortense Cumberbatch (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a black optometrist, has recently buried her adopted mother. She decides to try and track down her biological mother. She obtains her adoption records and locates her mother, Cynthia Purley (Brenda Blethyn), who lives on the other side of London. Cynthia, it turns out, is white. Through Cynthia we are introduced into the extended Purley family.
The movie revolves around Cynthia. We meet her daughter Roxanne (Claire Richbrook), a surly, hard drinking young woman who works as a street sweeper. We meet Maurice (Timothy Spall), Cynthia's brother, who has become a successful portrait and wedding photographer. There is also Maurice's wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan), moody and bitter, and wholly devoted to decorating their home.
From the start we see that this family is fragmented, divided, lost. Each member is divorced from the others because each has spun a web of lies to protect their secrets. They are all in pain, but they are all utterly unable to express their pain directly, because they refuse to open themselves to one another. It is Hortense that acts as the catalyst for an explosion. Having found and met Cynthia, Hortense becomes curious about the rest of the family. She and Cynthia continue to get to know each other, and to become friends. As a result, Cynthia invites Hortense to Roxanne's birthday party, which Maurice and Monica are hosting.
This movie is a very careful and thorough examination of the ways in which these people have withered, as a result of having cut themselves off from each other. Their secrets have become cancers, destroying them from the inside. They are all desperate for meaningful contact, for love. But they have destroyed the openness that love requires.
This movie has tackled some very raw issues, and it is not a movie that shrinks away from the pain these issues cause. The film is brilliant in portraying the deep wounds caused by ordinary people trying to manage as best they can. The film develops slowly, a character study rather than a story. As such we are given deep explorations of each character. Maurice, for example, is a very large man, but very quiet, very unassuming. In a brilliant sequence that takes place in his studio, we see him taking portraits, managing very awkward situations with care and tact. One portrait is of a horribly scarred young woman. A beauty consultant, the photos are to be evidence in a lawsuit. She is clearly scarred inside as well, and when the flash goes off, she nearly jumps out of her chair. But Maurice puts her at ease, and offers his sympathy, without being condescending. Yet we also see him brush off a sponger with kindness and strength. The Buddy Guy song Don't Mistake Kindness for Weakness could have been dedicated to Maurice.
As in real life, the tension of the film arises from the interactions of these characters. Petty jealousies flare up, and old wounds are reopened time and again. Cynthia, for example, resents her daughter Roxanne. Roxanne was conceived when Cynthia was very young. Cynthia had always been saddled with taking care of Maurice when they were children, and became a mother far too young. She sees Roxanne as having made it impossible for her to explore life. Roxanne, meanwhile, has been beaten into the ground by Cynthia's blaming her for how her life has turned out. When Cynthia meets Hortense, she is called up short. Hortense is beautiful, successful, and very kind. Cynthia sees for the first time that a child can actually be a joy, a source of pride and a feeling of accompishment. This feeling slowly leads her to try to heal the breach between herself and Roxanne.
Don't look for swelling violins or cliché happy endings. Leigh refuses to let us believe that years of hostility can be overcome in a day. Hollywood deplores an unresolved story, and we have been conditioned to expect neatly packaged resolutions to deep and complex territory. It is rare for a film to strike an emotional chord without resorting to base manipulation. But if you want to see a film that can truly move you, and make you really think about your own life, don't miss this one. See it twice.
The plot is very simple. Hortense Cumberbatch (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a black optometrist, has recently buried her adopted mother. She decides to try and track down her biological mother. She obtains her adoption records and locates her mother, Cynthia Purley (Brenda Blethyn), who lives on the other side of London. Cynthia, it turns out, is white. Through Cynthia we are introduced into the extended Purley family.
The movie revolves around Cynthia. We meet her daughter Roxanne (Claire Richbrook), a surly, hard drinking young woman who works as a street sweeper. We meet Maurice (Timothy Spall), Cynthia's brother, who has become a successful portrait and wedding photographer. There is also Maurice's wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan), moody and bitter, and wholly devoted to decorating their home.
From the start we see that this family is fragmented, divided, lost. Each member is divorced from the others because each has spun a web of lies to protect their secrets. They are all in pain, but they are all utterly unable to express their pain directly, because they refuse to open themselves to one another. It is Hortense that acts as the catalyst for an explosion. Having found and met Cynthia, Hortense becomes curious about the rest of the family. She and Cynthia continue to get to know each other, and to become friends. As a result, Cynthia invites Hortense to Roxanne's birthday party, which Maurice and Monica are hosting.
This movie is a very careful and thorough examination of the ways in which these people have withered, as a result of having cut themselves off from each other. Their secrets have become cancers, destroying them from the inside. They are all desperate for meaningful contact, for love. But they have destroyed the openness that love requires.
This movie has tackled some very raw issues, and it is not a movie that shrinks away from the pain these issues cause. The film is brilliant in portraying the deep wounds caused by ordinary people trying to manage as best they can. The film develops slowly, a character study rather than a story. As such we are given deep explorations of each character. Maurice, for example, is a very large man, but very quiet, very unassuming. In a brilliant sequence that takes place in his studio, we see him taking portraits, managing very awkward situations with care and tact. One portrait is of a horribly scarred young woman. A beauty consultant, the photos are to be evidence in a lawsuit. She is clearly scarred inside as well, and when the flash goes off, she nearly jumps out of her chair. But Maurice puts her at ease, and offers his sympathy, without being condescending. Yet we also see him brush off a sponger with kindness and strength. The Buddy Guy song Don't Mistake Kindness for Weakness could have been dedicated to Maurice.
As in real life, the tension of the film arises from the interactions of these characters. Petty jealousies flare up, and old wounds are reopened time and again. Cynthia, for example, resents her daughter Roxanne. Roxanne was conceived when Cynthia was very young. Cynthia had always been saddled with taking care of Maurice when they were children, and became a mother far too young. She sees Roxanne as having made it impossible for her to explore life. Roxanne, meanwhile, has been beaten into the ground by Cynthia's blaming her for how her life has turned out. When Cynthia meets Hortense, she is called up short. Hortense is beautiful, successful, and very kind. Cynthia sees for the first time that a child can actually be a joy, a source of pride and a feeling of accompishment. This feeling slowly leads her to try to heal the breach between herself and Roxanne.
Don't look for swelling violins or cliché happy endings. Leigh refuses to let us believe that years of hostility can be overcome in a day. Hollywood deplores an unresolved story, and we have been conditioned to expect neatly packaged resolutions to deep and complex territory. It is rare for a film to strike an emotional chord without resorting to base manipulation. But if you want to see a film that can truly move you, and make you really think about your own life, don't miss this one. See it twice.