The indomitable Brian Cox goes gangbusters at a role that doesn’t really deserve the effort he puts into it. He plays Sir Michael Gifford, a legend of the stage and screen and formidable, temperamental luvvie, now made even more cantankerous by the indignities of ageing. His daughter hires Dorottya (Coco König), a Hungarian care assistant who wins his affection by judiciously deploying Shakespeare quotes along with the adult diapers.
This is the kind of film that signposts its storyline from pretty much the opening shot (pensioners dancing in pyjamas to the kind of chummy trad jazz favoured by Woody Allen). And for all the admirable elements in the cast – Anna Chancellor is engaging as Sir Michael’s besotted housekeeper – and crackles of wit in the screenplay, co-written by the late Gilbert Adair, the film is depressingly obvious and mulched with a score which is the musical equivalent of pre-masticated invalid food.
