An interesting if somewhat conventional story. A jolly, slightly raffish, can-do, insensitive but loving father is resented by his son, especially during the son's teenage years. These are recalled by the son when he comes to visit his father on his death-bed. He wants to make peace with his father who has never realized how much his son had resented him. A shame that the fine and expressive acting by Jim Broadbent (father), Juliet Stevenson (mother), Matthew Beard (as teenage son) and Colin Firth (as adult son) is swamped by 1. an unbearably gimmicky production (multiple images in mirrors - pointless; jerking too abruptly from scene to scene; excessive chiaroscuro; 2. diction, as so often these days, not always clear; 3. subsidiary aspects of the plot ditto. I can remember the days when such a subject would have been presented much more simply and straightforwardly and would then have been very much more moving. A great disappointment.
Review of When Did You Last See Your Father?
