If ever a film was a tough watch, it is this: based on the true story of Tom Ray, a man from Rutland in the East Midlands who in 1999 had to have his arms and legs amputated and part of his face removed after contracting a rare form of septicaemia. He and his wife Nicola lived through the ordeal with great courage. One comes away from the film with real respect for the raw honesty of the performances: Joanne Froggatt is Nicola and Tom Riley is Ray.
However, there were moments when I thought the subject might be better served with a documentary. The direction and dialogue are frankly a bit flat, occasionally hitting some unsubtle emphases and working in laborious flashbacks to Tom’s unhappy childhood. Sometimes the movie put me in mind of Mathieu Amalric in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – and sometimes Ronald Reagan in Kings Row. Well, Froggatt’s performance finds some strong notes. And a more sophisticated and complex film might well have failed to approach the painful realness of this story.
