CINEMA: And When Did You Last See Your Father?

Based on Blake Morrison’s book, with a screenplay by David (Cold Feet) Nicholls, there’s a distinct whiff of BBC TV about this production – you can imagine seeing it stuck in front of the telly, rather than in a cinema. This is mainly due to the subject matter – the true story of Morrison’s (Colin Firth) often difficult and troubled relationship with his bluff doctor father Arthur (Jim Broadbent). It’s an intensely personal and subjective tale, which doesn’t always sit well with the big screen format.

When the adult Blake learns his father is terminally ill, he travels to the family home to help his mother (Juliet Stevenson) care for him and sort things out before he dies. This triggers a rush of memories from Blake’s childhood as he remembers the hurts, humiliations and embarrassments his insensitive father heaped upon him, including his gradual realisation that ‘auntie’ Beaty (Sarah Lancashire) was rather more than just a good friend of the family. In Blake’s words Arthur is a ‘mean-spirited, narrow-minded old sod’, in truth he is more a loveable monster (and Broadbent obviously relishes playing that aspect of his personality), a man who never considers how his actions may impinge on others.

The problem with the film is that it may accurately (and uncomfortably) show the way family can hold us all hostage, but this is Blake’s family and Blake’s father and the audience will always be outsiders in this particular little power play. Certain male members of the audience were squirming in their seats when The Void viewed the film, but if you have a good relationship with your dad you may find yourself curiously unmoved by what unfolds on screen. Dee Pilgrim