How about you? (Hayley Attwell)

(Amazon UK link)

December is here, so I pulled out our Christmas DVD collection. We have about thirty of them, currently; if we watch five each year that means we can see each one around once every six years. I usually like leaving at least five years before re-watching a film, unless it’s exceptional.

We saw ‘How about you?’ almost eight years ago in February 2017, rather later than the Christmas period. I recalled quite liking it, and also that it was loosely based on a short story by Maeve Binchy. My husband didn’t remember it at all.

Hayley Attwell stars as Ellie, a young woman who needs a job. She turns up at the care home for the elderly run by her sister Kate (Orla Brady), asking to work there. Kate is dubious: Ellie has a history of being irresponsible and causing problems by her outspokenness. But Ellie pleads, and Kate gives in.

One of the first residents whom Ellie gets to know is Alice (Joan O’Hara) who is frail, in some pain, and aware that she is dying. Alice feels hemmed in by her nurse, and wants the freedom to go out and about in her wheelchair. Ellie agrees to do this, and also to acquire some cannabis to ease Alice’s pain… but when Kate discovers it, she is furious. It could lead to the home being closed. It’s already lost some staff and several residents, mainly due to the bad behaviour of four of them.

These four are Georgia (Vanessa Redgrave), Donald (Joss Ackland), and two sisters called Hazel (Imelda Staunton) and Heather (Brenda Fricker). Georgia is a former stage star who hankers after her youth, and drinks too much. Donald is a supposedly reformed alcoholic who was widowed a couple of years earlier. Hazel is an artist who is over-protected by Heather. All four are rude, argumentative and demanding.

By the time the film was half-way through I was wondering why I had put it in our Christmas collection, but then, in the last half-hour or so, Christmas approaches. Most of the residents are collected by family members to be taken to their homes for a week or so. Ellie is eager to take a break, and only Kate will remain, to look after the four difficult residents who have nowhere else to go.

Then a crisis occurs, and Kate has to leave. So Ellie is in charge… she promises to behave, but becomes increasingly exhausted and stressed by the incessant demands of these angry people. She finally loses her temper and lets them know what she thinks of them. She also tells them that the home will probably be closed due to their attitudes and behaviour…

But it’s a Christmas feel-good film, so inevitably the four difficult residents are brought to their senses and decide to get along. Not that they are perfect by any means, and there are more difficulties for Ellie as she tries to treat them as a family. Then there’s always the worry of a health and safety officer arriving, since Ellie has no qualifications and leaving the residents in her care is not legal.

There are moments of humour in this film which, on the whole, is light-hearted, even though it includes some more serious issues. The acting is good, as one would expect with an all-star cast. It has just the right balance of poignancy and lightness, in my view.

There are some lovely Christmas scenes with amazing food, beautiful table layouts, and more, and while the ending is perhaps a bit predictable, it was very enjoyable to watch. The whole film is beautifully done, and we were totally engrossed. It’s not long - just under 90 minutes - and there are no extras on our DVD. But it made a good start to the Christmas season.

The rating is 15 which surprised me a bit, as there are only mild sexual references - no nudity or anything explicit - and no violence. But there are several instances of strong language, and the drugs… so that’s why it has such a high rating. I doubt if children or young teens would be interested anyway in a film about elderly folk in a care home.

But if you want a well-made, thoughtful film with a pleasantly Christmassy ending, I would recommend ‘How about you’.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Letters to Juliet (Amanda Seyfried)

(Amazon UK link)

I watched the film ‘Letters to Juliet’ with relatives just eighteen months ago. But my husband was given it on blu-ray for Christmas, after putting it on his wishlist, and had not seen it. So, as I recalled enjoying it, I was happy to watch it again even after such a brief period.

While I had recalled the general outline, I had quite forgotten the opening scenes. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) lives in New York with her boyfriend Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal). He is soon to be opening a new restaurant, but has agreed to go on a short holiday with her, to Verona in Italy. Sophie is a professional fact-checker who would love to become a published writer.

Victor is very fond of Sophie, but his real passion is cooking, and he’s very excited to be able to meet with some of his suppliers in Italy. Sophie goes with him for the first, including wine-tasting. At the second, looking at cheeses, she feels a bit left out and bored. And when he decides to take a few days meeting yet another supplier, she decides to stay in Verona and do some sight-seeing.  

She comes across a wall, supposedly part of Juliet’s house (created for tourists who want to see where Shakespeare’s Juliet lived) where women are writing and affixing notes. Sophie even more intrigued when a group of women appear and take the notes away in baskets. Her journalistic instincts are aroused, and she follows them…

One thing leads to another, and the bulk of the story involves Sophie travelling around Italy with the wonderful Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) who hasn’t seen Lorenzo, the person she fell in love with fifty years earlier. She is accompanied by her reluctant grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan). He is, understandably, annoyed that her soulmate was apparently not his own grandfather, and thinks she has come on a wild goose-chase. 

There’s quite a bit of gentle humour in the film, much of which I had entirely forgotten, as the group find more and more people with the same name, in widely different circumstances. There’s also some wonderful chemistry between Sophie and Claire, who feel a sense of kindred immediately. 

One minor criticism of the film is that Claire is only supposed to be 65, but she looks about ten years older. Quick research revealed that Vanessa Redgrave was in fact 73 when this film was made. She’s still active and attractive, but is also treated by Charlie as if she were in her 70s and quite frail. She fell in love at 15, which is why she had to return to the UK with her parents; but I felt it should have been sixty years earlier rather than fifty. 

However it’s a minor thing; Vanessa Redgrave is the most wonderful actress, and I could entirely believe in Claire, putting aside the problem that she looked and behaved older than 65. Sophie, too, is entirely believable, and we loved the passionate Victor, who injects some humour into the early part of the film. We weren’t so impressed with Charlie, however. His accent felt a bit over-plummy; we later discovered that he’s Australian, so his English accent wasn’t authentic. We got used it; but his gradual change of character didn’t seem entirely authentic. He’s quite rude when he first appears, and antagonistic towards Sophie and there’s no real explanation as to why he softens and changes.

But that’s also minor, as the real love story is the one that - inevitably - is finally fulfilled, with some very poignant scenes. 

Rated PG, this is free of anything explicit, and the only nudity is that on some of the classical Italian statues. The film has only the very mildest of bad language - and not even much of that. A story like this isn’t likely to be of interest to children, but I would recommend it highly to anyone over the age of about 15 who likes gentle romantic stories. 

There are some extras which we watched: a short ‘making of’ documentary which explains some of the background; also some deleted or expanded scenes that weren’t used.

Letters to Juliet

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Letters to Juliet (Amanda Seyfried)

(Amazon UK link)

I was staying with relatives and we planned to watch something else, but their DVD player didn’t seem to work… so they chose ‘Letters to Juliet’ from films available on one of their subscription services. I had never heard of it, but the brief blurb sounded intriguing. It turned out to be an excellent choice, one which we all liked very much.

The story opens with a young couple going on a pre-wedding honeymoon to Verona, in Italy. Amanda Seyfried is excellent as the caring, romantic Sophie. She hopes that this short holiday will bring her closer to her fiance Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal). He’s a nice enough young man but rather obsessed with his work as a chef… and instead of relaxing and enjoying the romance of the area, he arranges meetings and has very little time for Sophie.

So she goes sight-seeing on her own, and discovers ‘Juliet’s Wall’ - a bizarre idea, we thought, since Juliet was a fictional creation by Shakespeare. But apparently many visitors, in reality, write notes to the tragic heroine, hoping for comfort or reassurance. Even if Juliet had existed, she would be long gone, but replies are sent out. I’m not sure how much is based on reality, but in the film Sophie discovers that a team of women work all hours to attempt to keep up with the notes, and answer them wherever possible.

Sophie gets drawn into this, as they need someone who can write in English, and she discovers a letter that was written fifty years earlier. She has no idea if the person concerned is even alive, but replies anyway… and this is the catalyst for some unexpected meetings and discoveries.

It’s an unusual setting and theme for a fairly traditional story of love, disappointment, mutual dislike and growing attraction. But there's another subplot, the one involving the now elderly Clare, brilliantly portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave. Her screen chemistry is so good, her acting flawless, and we could totally believe in her character who is warm, caring and determined to solve a mystery from the past.

We all found it very watchable, unsure where it was going to go. There are some quite poignant moments but also some gentle humour here and there, and the acting, at least from the main characters, is excellent. The rating is PG, and while I can't imagine it would appeal to children or even teenagers, there's nothing unsuitable other than some mild bad language.

'Letters to Juliet' won’t appeal to those who like fact action and tension, but for a light evening’s viewing with some depth, I would definitely recommend it.

>Review copyright 2022 Sue's DVD Reviews

Evening (Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes)

(Amazon UK link)

We’re mostly re-watching films that we haven’t seen for eight or nine years, most of which we have almost entirely forgotten. One of the DVDs I moved to our ‘watch soon’ drawer is ‘Evening’. Neither of us had any memory of having seen it before, although we saw it in October 2014. So we decided to watch it last night. During the film some parts did come back to us, including the inevitable final outcome.

Vanessa Redgrave is perfect as Ann, the central character, drifting in and out of consciousness as she lies, dying, in her bedroom. We don’t learn what’s wrong with her, and it doesn’t much matter. She looks suitably old and frail, visited by her adult daughters Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette). It wasn’t until we saw the ‘extras’ that we discovered that Natasha Richardson is Vanessa Redgrave’s daughter in real life.

As Ann thinks about her life, which she feels hasn’t been all that worthwhile, she recalls vividly a weekend about fifty years earlier when she was chief bridesmaid at her friend Lila’s wedding. The young Ann is played by Claire Danes, and Lila by Mamie Gummer. Lila is from a wealthy family, and Ann apparently hasn’t visited their huge house before. She arrives with Lila’s younger brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) whom she clearly knows well, and who shows her around. Buddy, we quickly learn, is not happy - he drinks far too much and tries to turn everything into a joke.

Then there’s Harris (Patrick Wilson) who grew up as the son of one of the family servants. But Buddy treated him like a brother, and Harris has long left home and is qualified as a doctor. Lila was in love with Harris as a teenager, and Buddy thinks she still is… so he pleads with Ann to stop her getting married to someone whom she likes and respects very much, but isn’t in love with.

I found the storyline a bit confusing at first, switching as it does between the present Ann on her deathbed and the young, vivacious Ann who’s a little awkward as a person, but a beautiful singer. I couldn’t remember whether the wedding went ahead or not, or what happened with Harris, or Buddy, though there are hints quite early in the book suggesting that not everything is going to turn out well during the wedding weekend.

By the time I’d been watching for about ten minutes, I was completely hooked by this film which is beautifully made. It could have been morose or depressing, but instead it’s encouraging and ultimately quite uplifting. There’s a little bit of low-key humour - the elderly Ann, a couple of times, sees her staid night-nurse (Eileen Atkins) as someone angelic - or perhaps a fairy - although even these scenes are laced with poignancy.

The sisters Constance and Nina seem to squabble unpleasantly in a way I found unbelievable when we first saw this. But now, realising that it stemmed partly from their grief, and partly their unusual and sometimes stressful upbringing (as well as quite stark personality differences) it felt realistic, albeit sad; yet even these acrimonious interchanges are alternated with evidence of deep connection between the two.

Meryl Streep makes a brief appearance towards the end, as the adult Lila - and, as I had recalled, Streep is the actual mother of Mamie Gummer who plays young Lila, so that worked exceptionally well.  Lila and Ann share a moving scene that mirrors a similar one from the morning of Lila’s wedding day.

All in all, we thought it a lovely film despite the subject matter, and appreciated the extras - a few deleted scenes that were well worth seeing, and a good ‘making of’ documentary that wasn’t too long.

The rating is 12 (PG-13 in the US) which seems about right; there’s nothing explicit and only one instance of ‘strong’ language, but there are a couple of quite disturbing scenes and the subject matter isn’t appropriate for children.

Highly recommended.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mrs Dalloway (Vanessa Redgrave)

(Amazon UK link)

We have had this DVD sitting in our unwatched DVD drawer for some years now. It was originally a freebie issued with a newspaper, and we acquired it from a relative. I’m not really a fan of Virginia Woolf’s novels, but we’re trying to watch a film once a week, so we finally decided to watch ‘Mrs Dalloway’ last night.

It’s a 1920s drama starring Vanessa Redgrave as Clarissa Dalloway, a middle-aged socialite who is giving a party. The whole film takes place over the course of a day, although there are many flashbacks to her youth. She is from a privileged, moneyed class, married to a politician - and while she is a little stressed over the details of her party, all the work is evidently done by her household staff.

There’s not a great deal of plot. I gather that the novel is mostly stream-of-consciousness style narrated by Clarissa, and that’s the general effect of the film. We see most events from her perspective, and sometimes hear her thoughts, given separately from the action or spoken words. There’s an entirely separate subplot featuring a young war veteran who is having horrible flashbacks and hallucinations, and his wife; they are, perhaps, shown as a stark contrast to the lavish lifestyle of Clarissa and her friends.

The novel was probably considered very risqué when it was first published. The young Clarissa, in flashback, has a brief romantic encounter with her close friend Sarah. But she is also very attracted to a young and somewhat demanding man called Peter. She ends up marrying a safer, more caring man and is reasonably happy; however an encounter with Peter on her party day starts her wondering what might have happened if she had made different choices.

The film is beautifully made, and very well-casted; Vanessa Redgrave, as ever, is perfect in her role. The younger Clarissa and friends are similar enough to their middle-aged selves that there was no problem remembering who was whom. I was a tad confused by the two time-frames for the first few minutes, but it soon became clear what was going on.

However, it’s not a film that caught my emotions, particularly. I could see that it was a high quality film, with great attention to period detail. As a piece of social history, it's excellent. And yet, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. That’s partly because the plot concerning the war veteran was quite disturbing, and partly, I suppose, because the Dalloways' lifestyle is so far removed from anything I’ve experienced.

I’m intrigued enough that I may decide to read the book at some point, but I doubt if I’ll want to see the film again. It made a pleasant enough evening’s viewing; the rating of PG (PG-13 in the US) seems about right, although I cannot imagine it would appeal to anyone under the age of about sixteen.

The film doesn't seem to be easily available any more; second-hand editions on Amazon are very expensive. But if you can find this at a charity shop, or similar, it's worth seeing once.    

Review copyright 2018 Sue's DVD Reviews

How about you? (Hayley Atwell)

(Amazon UK link)

This is one of the DVDs that Amazon recommended to me some months ago, based on what I liked already. The blurb suggested a feel-good film with some humour as well as some more serious parts. The front cover suggested a light Christmassy story. I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas.

We were tired last night and wanted to watch something short and fairly light. At just under 90 minutes, ‘How about you?’ looked as if it would be ideal. I was particularly interested to note that it’s based on a story by Maeve Binchy; I couldn’t recall it, but, later, found it in her short story collection ‘This Year it will be Different’.

The film is almost all set in a care home for the elderly, run - and owned - by a young woman called Kate (Orla Brady). She’s constantly stressed, because four of her long-term residents are rude and unhelpful. This means that potential newcomers are put off, some current residents are so upset that they leave, and even staff don’t stick around. Finances are tight and there’s a constant threat of being closed down by the overzealous health and safety officer.

It’s nicely produced with a good pace, but the first half hour is quite depressing rather than humorous. It doesn’t help when Kate’s younger and somewhat irresponsible sister Ellie (Hayley Attwell) asks for a job. She persuades Kate to take her on despite a tense relationship, and Ellie comes up against the unpleasant quartet more than once.

As Christmas approaches, most of the residents leave to stay with family and friends, and staff are given a break. Kate expects to stay with the four difficult folk. But then an emergency crops up and Ellie, to her horror, is left in charge.

Two of the people who remain are the spinster sisters, Heather (Brenda Fricker) and Hazel (Imelda Staunton). They spend their time bickering and being rude in a loud way. Then Georgia (Vanessa Redgrave) makes constant demands for cocktails, and plays the diva whenever she can. The fourth of the difficult quartet is Donald (Joss Ackland), who expects a cooked breakfast at 6.00 every morning...

Naturally enough, as it’s supposed to be a feel-good film, Ellie’s outspokenness breaks down some barriers, although she also creates more tensions in other ways. The second half of the film is somewhat lighter than the first part, and there are moments that made us smile, although it certainly isn’t ‘hilarious’ as the blurb suggests.

The film is darker and, in places, sadder than the original story. While the ending was positive and quite encouraging, we wished we had been aware that it was a serious film with one or two lighter moments rather than being a light-hearted one overall.

The acting is great, the pace just right, the music works well, even if the repetition of the title song becomes a trifle old. I liked the mild Irish accents too. There were several instances of ‘strong’ language, which, along with some recreational drug usage, gives this film a 15 rating in the UK; neither feature in Binchy’s original story.

On the whole we enjoyed it, and will no doubt see it again some time.

Review copyright 2017 Sue's DVD Reviews

A Song for Marion (Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave)

(Amazon UK link)

Amazon recommended this film to me, probably because I had very much enjoyed 'Quartet', to which it's compared. I put it on my wishlist and was given it for my birthday, nearly a year ago. I had forgotten about it, until our twenty-something son spotted it in our unwatched DVD drawer, and recommended it. He didn't want to see it again himself, but said he had liked it very much, and thought that I would too.

Terence Stamp is delightfully believable as the curmudgeonly Arthur. His life is shadowed by the fact that his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) is terminally ill. That’s not immediately obvious, although she’s wheelchair bound, and he has to take her everywhere.

Marion's social activities include a choir of elderly folk, meeting in a church hall. They are directed by the cheerful Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) who is very realistic as a bouncy choir mistress, determined to make her mixed bunch of singers into a great choir. Her choice of music is sometimes quite amusing, as are some of the choir members and their reactions to her.

Arthur and Marion have a son, James, and I spent a long time during the film trying to remember who he was. I knew that face, but out of context could not place him. It was not until the end that I realised - duh! - he was Christopher Eccleston, the ninth Doctor. I thought he very well cast in this film, as an adult son who’s very fond of his mother but mostly estranged from his father. He works as a mechanic and is divorced, with a likeable nine-year-old daughter Jennifer (Orla Hill) who is very fond of her grandparents.

The first part of the film feels quite morose as it becomes clear that Marion is not going to survive much longer. My husband almost turned it off after about half an hour, he was feeling so miserable. But we kept watching... and the story does get better, albeit a little predictable. The choir go on to a festival, and that leads to some quite amusing scenes and high drama, as well as some poignancy.

Unfortunately some of the singing, which is important to the storyline, isn’t that great. This irritated my husband so much that he couldn’t enjoy it, despite agreeing that it was - in the end - a positive story, and a nicely made film with some great characters.

I liked the story and would have given it four stars if I were rating it. It was well-made, and the storyline a little different, even if it was fairly obvious from the start what would happen. I got quite caught up in the story. But my husband’s reaction was so negative that I don’t really think I could give it more than three. He’s quite eclectic in his tastes and will happily watch most films intended for women. But he really didn’t like this one.

The rating is PG in the UK, PG-13 in the US; I suppose this reflects the lack of horror, violence or nudity. On the other hand there are a LOT of references to sex. I wouldn’t suggest anyone under the age of about thirteen or fourteen watch this, as there are some quite heavy emotional scenes, and the storyline wouldn’t be of interest to children.

Apparently this film is known as 'Unfinished Song' in the US.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's DVD Reviews<

Evening (Vanessa Redgrave, Clare Danes, Mamie Gummer)

(Amazon UK link)

I assume that Amazon recommended this DVD to me because it features Meryl Streep, whom I consider one of the greatest living actresses. I have enjoyed many of her films, and the reviews of this were generally good, so I put it on my wishlist.

‘Evening’ was something I received for my birthday earlier in the year and which we watched last night. The blurb didn’t say much, other than that it was a heart-rending tear-jerker, but the cover looked appealing. We weren’t too sure what to expect, and wondered if it was going to be rather morbid at first, since the main character, brilliantly portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave, is an elderly woman called Ann who is evidently at the last stage of a serious illness. She has two daughters who seem to spend their time arguing; one is a traditional family woman with a career, the other has floated around between different jobs and boyfriends, and admits to being phobic about commitment.

Ann’s mind is evidently wandering somewhat, and when she mentions the name ‘Harris’ as a great mistake of her youth, her daughters wonder if she’s becoming delirious. But we’re then transported back to the 1950s, with Ann as a young woman (Clare Danes) going to her best friend’s wedding. Her friend Lila (Mamie Gummer) lives in a huge house, and is quite conventional; but her brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) is convinced that she’s about to make a terrible mistake in marrying the upright (and dull) Karl.

Buddy then introduces Ann to Harris, a doctor who is the son of the former family housekeeper. Everybody, it seems, is in love with Harris - and Ann quickly falls under his spell.

To say much more would be to give spoilers of a film that owes more to characterisation and scenery than plot. The action (such as it is) switches between the present and the past almost at random, as we gradually see events unfold during the weekend of Lila’s wedding, culminating in a tragedy which is not unexpected (since present-day Ann has mentioned it) but still shocking.

It was quite mesmerising at times, though neither of us found it heart-rending or even tear-jerking. However it was certainly thought-provoking and somewhat moving, although the tearful scenes were just a touch too melodramatic. Themes were about love, and choices; whether or not a life was wasted or fulfilled; the value of friendship, the dangers of jealousy. It was cleverly put together although towards the end there were some decidedly surreal scenes that were amusing rather than poignant, as it became clear that Ann had one foot in the next world already.

Meryl Streep’s cameo role did not appear until near the end, when she played the part of the now elderly Lila; perfectly cast, as the young Lila was played by her daughter. Indeed, most of the acting was very good, although I never quite believed in the drunken, confused Buddy, and I found Ann’s daughters’ bickering to be unrealistic and inappropriate on the whole.

It could perhaps have been cut from 112 minutes to 90 without any real loss, but I didn’t find it dull at all despite being somewhat slow-moving; the ending was less morbid and more upbeat than we had feared and overall I enjoyed it.

The rating is 12 which I think is about right; there’s no real violence, just a few instances of bad language, implied intimacy but no details. The subject matter is unlikely to be of interest to anyone under the age of about 15 in any case.

Recommended if you don’t mind a bit of melodrama, and enjoy meandering character-based thematic dramas.

Review copyright 2014 Sue's DVD Reviews