DON'T expect to enjoy this film. It's disturbing, raw and uncomfortable yet thought-provoking and brilliant.
The exceptional Anne Reid plays May, a grandmother in her late sixties who, with her ailing husband, visits her family in London. The very night they arrive, he dies, leaving May to the distracted and wretchedly lacking attentions of her son and daughter.
The only hint of hope or kindness is provided by builder Darren- the only person who speaks to May as if she isn't heading for an institution.
He shows the tenderness she craves when all she gets from her son is an insistence that she sits down, watches some television and not be "difficult". This, mind you, is on her return to her own home after the funeral, at the same time as her husband's empty slippers greet her poignantly on the doormat.
Very soon the tenderness becomes sexual, and May's joy at re-awakened desires is compounded by the fact that not only is Darren a married man, but her daughter is having an affair with him as well.
What happens next is not pretty and in some part not plausible but the film is beautifully acted, compelling and remarkable.
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