The Winter Guest: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by Alan Rickman, written by Rickman and Sharman Macdonald, 110 minutes, rated R.



Editor's Note:  A favorite from the archives.  Well worth a place in your NetFlix queue.





Arms pumping, fur coat shimmering, eyes fixed and staring in watery sockets, British actress Phyllida Law proves in the opening moments of “The Winter Guest” to be the ultimate spokeswoman for Ensure, the dietary supplement that allegedly gives kick and verve to the geriatric set.



As Elspbeth, Law is a tightly wound powerhouse first seen storming across the bleak, frozen terrain of an unidentified coastal town in Scotland.  Her destination?  The home of her daughter, Florence (Emma Thompson, Law’s real-life daughter), a professional photographer in deep mourning after the death of her husband to an unspecified disease.



Adapted from the play by Sharman Macdonald, “The Winter Guest” is a film that focuses on the tension that divides these two women while also, through its eccentric cast of ancillary characters, focusing on five stages of life:  prepubescense, pubescence, middle age, old age and death. 



It is a structureless film about the absolute necessity of companionship that reveals itself as slowly and as delicately as its characters reveal themselves, a unique quality that makes it as rewarding as its rich performances.



This is a very good film of great humor that understands the complexities of the human experience while never pretending to know what each individual experience is supposed to mean.  Still, in its observations, it offers simple answers to difficult questions that resonate with the sometimes elusive truth.



Grade:  B+