Those with unhappy memories of Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet, that sucrose vision of sweet old British thesps in a nursing home, might flinch at this. Brian Cox plays Sir Michael Gifford, an adorably grumpy old Shakespearian actor with the beginnings of Parkinson’s, who makes life hell for his family and nursing staff. But his new home care assistant is Dorottya (Coco König), a cheeky young Hungarian drama student who makes him laugh and reminds him of his younger self. A touching odd-couple friendship commences, which exasperates Sir Michael’s daughter, Sophia (Emilia Fox), and his secretary and former lover, Milly (Anna Chancellor), who are suspicious and maybe a little envious of this new relationship.
This film looks like it’s going to be an icky piece of sentimentality tasting of Werther’s Original. Sometimes it is. But Cox carries it off with wit and flair; König is rather good too, and the screenplay has many witty touches. It was co-written by the late British critic and author Gilbert Adair – who I guess is responsible for the droll passage about the differences between Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be and the Mel Brooks remake.
