When Did You Last See Your Father?
Tucker, Anand, Beard, Matthew, Broadbent, Jim, Lancashire, Sarah, Firth, Colin, Stevenson, Juliet
Primary Category:
Performing Arts /
Film, TV, Video
Genre: Film
-
Annotated by:
- Aull, Felice
- Date of entry: Nov-24-2008
Summary
Based on the memoir by British writer Blake Morrison, who is played in the film by Colin Firth, the story unfolds through Blake's eyes. Blake's father Arthur (Jim Broadbent) is rapidly dying of cancer, cared for at home by Blake's mother, Kim (Juliet Stevenson). Blake's parents are both physicians. Blake is extremely ambivalent toward his father and reluctantly goes back to his childhood home to visit the dying man. As his father lies dying Blake hashes out within himself his conflicted feelings toward his father -- long-standing anger, contempt, guilt, occasional grudging admiration. The film flashes back and forth between the present and Blake's memories of the past.
As seen through Blake's eyes, his father is bombastic, overbearing, a deceiving and self-deceiving individual. Blake recalls numerous instances where his father called him "fathead," barged unannounced into his room, humiliated him in front of others, competed with him for the attention of young women, and disparaged his choice of career as a writer. Blake is deeply wounded by the knowledge that his father has been carrying on a romance with Aunt Beaty (Sarah Lancashire ) behind his mother's back -- although his mother is painfully aware of the infidelity. In addition to recalling various humiliating and annoying situations with his father, Blake is enveloped in memories of his first sexual relationship with the family's maid and even makes a brief pass at her in the present, after his father's funeral. He is so fixated on his obsessions -- with his first love and with his father -- that when his wife speaks with him on the telephone, he is distant and hostile toward her.
Blake's mother nurses her dying husband while Blake hovers in the background, hoping for an opportunity to talk to his father while he is still lucid, in what is bound to be a futile attempt at having a revelatory discussion about their fraught relationship -- such a discussion is bound to be futile because Arthur does not admit to his faults and even as he is on his deathbed, seeks reassurance from his wife that they had a happy life together.
As seen through Blake's eyes, his father is bombastic, overbearing, a deceiving and self-deceiving individual. Blake recalls numerous instances where his father called him "fathead," barged unannounced into his room, humiliated him in front of others, competed with him for the attention of young women, and disparaged his choice of career as a writer. Blake is deeply wounded by the knowledge that his father has been carrying on a romance with Aunt Beaty (Sarah Lancashire ) behind his mother's back -- although his mother is painfully aware of the infidelity. In addition to recalling various humiliating and annoying situations with his father, Blake is enveloped in memories of his first sexual relationship with the family's maid and even makes a brief pass at her in the present, after his father's funeral. He is so fixated on his obsessions -- with his first love and with his father -- that when his wife speaks with him on the telephone, he is distant and hostile toward her.
Blake's mother nurses her dying husband while Blake hovers in the background, hoping for an opportunity to talk to his father while he is still lucid, in what is bound to be a futile attempt at having a revelatory discussion about their fraught relationship -- such a discussion is bound to be futile because Arthur does not admit to his faults and even as he is on his deathbed, seeks reassurance from his wife that they had a happy life together.
Miscellaneous
Screenplay by David Nicholls, based on the book by Blake Morrison
Primary Source
Sony Pictures Classics
Commentary
Also well depicted is the reality of caring at home for dying family members -- the long hours, physically demanding tasks, ambivalence, sorrow, devotion. While the subject matter in this film is not cheerful, it is treated with sensitivity and insight. Older adults will be provoked to consider their own unresolved childhood-parent relationships; teenagers and young adults should find resonance in the portrayal of the teenaged Blake (Matthew Beard) as well as prodded toward the challenges that lie ahead for them as they mature.