Anna (Kathryn Worth) is a woman in her
mid-40s, who arrives alone at the Italian
holiday home of an extended bourgeois family.
She’s the old school friend of matriarch Verena
(Mary Roscoe), but is soon distracted from
‘the olds’ and drawn to the vitality and
energetic escapades of the teenagers in
the group, and in particular to cocky Oakley
(Tom Hiddleston).
It’s gradually and subtly revealed that all
is not right in Anna’s world, and that the time
spent with the people more than half her age
is an attempt to fill a void and claim something
missing in her own life.
Joanna Hogg’s impressive debut feature feels
refreshing and original. It is a bold and brutally
honest portrait of a woman of a certain age,
a comment on middle-class sensibilities that
is capable of wrong-footing the viewer at every
turn, where what might be seen as minor,
everyday concerns are presented in such a
way that they become epic, achingly touching,
often tense and quite scary.
Professional and non-professional actors
combine to credible effect, the dialogue
is spontaneous and realistic, while Hogg’s
static camera frames the action distinctively.
Michael Hayden,
London Film Festival Programme
