With its drab, overpowering score, this tedious drama is nearly as gruelling as the trek up Scotland’s Suilven, which Edie’s (Sheila Hancock) controlling late husband forbade her to take in the early years of their marriage. Freed from her role as full-time carer, and without her disapproving daughter’s knowledge, the athletic 83-year-old hops aboard a train from London to Inverness and hitches a ride west of Sutherland in the hope of completing the climb.
She’s aided by a kindly young chap named Jonny (period drama stalwart Kevin Guthrie, recently seen in Sunset Song and Dunkirk), who conveniently works at the indie equivalent of Blacks and kits her out in high-quality hiking gear. The two become unlikely pals; he helps her develop a taste for Strongbow cider, she teaches him to be less selfish. There’s a whiff of Harold and Maude here (and, indeed, Hancock played Maude in Thom Southerland’s stage adaptation of Hal Ashby’s 1971 film), though unfortunately this intergenerational odd couple lack the chemistry and the outsider charm of their American predecessors.
