Home and the Heart

CAST: Jim Broadbent,Ruth Sheen,Lesley Manville,Oliver Maltman,Peter Wight,David Bradley

rating: ****

There is little sadder than lonely old age,except being in the company of friends or family members who are perfect together. Another Year explores one such year in the life of incredible companions Tom (Broadbent) and Gerri (Sheen),their devoted son who is about to enter into one such relationship himself,and the miserable souls who they encounter that year.

The first such person to cross their paths is a depressed housewife and mother who has had trouble sleeping for a year. Played by Imelda Staunton,she has a dam of sadness waiting to burst out of her,but almost with her pursed lips alone,she holds it all in. All she is asking for is a good night’s sleep. Gerri,who is her counsellor,tells her to keep coming in – but we don’t see her again.

The other three folks who bring their sorrows into Tom and Gerri’s warm hearth are Mary,Ken and Ronnie. Ken is an overweight alcoholic,unmarried,who is dreading the thought of retirement. Ronnie is Tom’s elder brother who loses his wife and whose son whom he hasn’t seen for years arrives for the funeral after the service is over.

If Another Year belongs to anyone,it is Mary (Manville). She is beautiful,slim and dressed in the trendiest of clothes – all that she clings on to as her portals into a new beginning . But years are slipping by,and the guys who are interested in her are only so till the point they discover how old she really is. In her desperation,she imagines the kind words of Gerri’s son Joe as a sign of interest,and is spiteful when he brings home a girlfriend. The slow disintegration of Mary’s life happens right before our eyes,from the way she speaks,to how she leans in,how she uses her hands to talk,to how long she clings on during a hug.

Leigh’s slow-moving,at times almost static film,makes Tom and Gerri the kind of old couple you rarely see out of films. The kind who read in bed together,cook together,and when they go out,it is to their “allotment”,where they grow vegetables and where,under a shed,they sit next to each other on a rainy day drinking tea.

That’s the drawback of Another Year. More than admiration for Tom and Gerri,or empathy for the others,you feel sorry for the poor sods to whom they are a necessary example.