The director, Michael Leigh, is so British. His films have empathy, penetrating
observation, and an instinct for human comedy.
The film begins with Tom and Gerri, a North London couple
who have been happily married for years. The sort you are thrilled to be invited for dinner with, and slow to leave their house when the evening ends. That's also how Mary (Lesley Manville) feels. She has worked for years
in the office of Gerri, a behavioral counselor. Many people have a
friend like Mary: unmarried, not getting any younger, drinking too much,
looking for the perfect spouse as a way of holding any real-world
relationship at arm's length. And she is needy with a capital N. How Geri and Tom tolerate her is a credit to them--until Mary steps over an invisible line. Through her own fault, Mary is no longer welcome, and while she recognizes that it happened, she still can't quite grasp the magnitude of what she has done. She goes from the periphery of Geri and Tom's life to the outside looking in. A brilliant if somewhat cerebral film.
Thursday, November 7, 2019
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