A top-notch cast, including Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth, brings Blake Morrison's painfully honest memoir to life.
Blake Morrison"s semi-autobiographical And When Did You Last See Your Father? (first published as a book in 1993) is an extraordinary portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an honest and heartfelt account of his father"s life, experiences of terminal illness and eventual death. It became a best-seller and then a film.
It"s an unflinching exploration of a father and son relationship that intersperses funny, embarrassing and tender moments from Blake"s childhood, with compassionate and heartrending scenes from the present, in which his somewhat-estranged father is dying.
Directed by Anand Tucker (Shopgirl), from a screenplay by David Nicholls (Starter for Ten) it stars the often-underrated, but hugely talented Colin Firth (Bridget Jones) as Blake, the always delightful Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge) as his father and Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), one of the most respected actresses of her generation, as his careworn mother.
The material is directed in a sensitive and poetic manner, with a genuine dedication to authenticity and a level of attention to detail that"s obvious throughout. The manner in which it"s presented on screen by the actors, via Nicholl"s screenplay, captures the raw honesty that Morrison had not been afraid to express in his memoirs. Blake"s recollections of his father"s self-rightousness, pomposity, egotism and even flirtatious nature are all painted in full colour, as are Blake"s own contrasting, introverted, personality traits. But both are complex characters with virtues and flaws and much of the story centers around whether Blake, throughout his childhood and adulthood, can see past his father"s flaws, the constant putdowns that his father hurls at him and his own deeply conflicted feelings towards his father, to see the real man that his father was, caring, loving, charming and devoted to his children.
Firth"s performance is truly compelling and it"s clear that he"s captured the spirit of Morrison and the love, and hatred, that he had for his father - believing him at times to be invincible and infallible but at others to be mean-spirited and sanctimonious. Broadbent matches him every step of the way untroubled by the changes in character required from overbearing and duplicitous father to weakened and frail older man about to meet with death.
And When Did You Last See Your Father? has a potentially universal resonance with audiences because to some extent we have all been in Blake"s or his father"s shoes at some point in our lives. It"s delightfully honest in it"s material and depiction and will leave most audiences in deep thought and most probably tears as the powerful conclusion hits home.
5/5
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play And When Did You Last See Your Father? is Blake Morrison&39;s moving and candid memoir of his father in the weeks leading up to his death When Arthur Morrison was diagnosed with terminal cancer he had only a few weeks left to live Blake Morrison traveled to Yorkshire to stay with his mother in the village where he grew up He visites his father at the hospital where he had spent so much time with his own patients as a GP As his father&39;s condition worsened Morrison contemplates their shared experiences the intimacies and the irritations of their relationship After his father&39;s death Morrison questions the nature of the bond between them articulately expressing the contradictions frustrations love and loss bound into the complicated relationships which most of us have with our parents as we grow up Actors Colin Firth Jim Broadbent Juliet Stevenson Gina Mckee Sarah Lancashire Matthew Beard Elaine Cassidy Claire Skinner Bradley Johnson Carey Mulligan Tara Berwin & Tilly Curtis Director Anand Tucker Certificate 12 years and over Year 2007 Languages English Duration 1 hour and 32 minutes (approx)
Film based on Blake Morrison's candid memoir of his father in the weeks leading up to his death. Arthur Morrison (Jim Broadbent) is diagnosed with terminal cancer and told he only has a few weeks left to live. His son Blake (Colin Firth) is visiting his mother (Juliet Stevenson) in Yorkshire in the village where he grew up. Blake visits his father in the hospital and begins to contemplate the intimacies and irritations of the relationship they have had over the years. His father has been a raffish, insensitive but loving man resented by his son, especially during the son's teenage years (the teenage Blake is portrayed by Matthew Beard). Blake wants to make peace with his father who has never realized how his behaviour gave rise to those resentments. After his father's death, Blake questions the nature of the bond between them, articulately expressing the contradictions, frustrations, love and loss bound into the complicated relationships which most of us have with our parents as we grow up.
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