(Liam Neeson & Lesley Manville)
A moving film about a
year in the life of an ordinary couple from Northern Ireland who face the
scourge of cancer. (Review: Patrick Compton. 9/10)
It’s good to see Liam Neeson take a break from vigilante
fare to show his acting chops playing a loving husband supporting a wife with
breast cancer.
This low-key Irish drama, scripted by Belfast playwright
Owen McCafferty, is virtually a two-hander involving Tom (Neeson) and his wife
Joan (a brilliant performance from Lesley Manville) who live in a small coastal
town by the sea.
Their life is ordinary. They watch TV at home and gently
bicker the days away in between their daily constitutional along the promenade.
We learn that both have retired, following the tragic death of their daughter,
to spend more time together.
The threat of the disease strikes almost immediately, as
Joan discovers a lump in her breast while she takes a shower. The rest of the
film, plot-wise, involves her treatment, the effects of chemotherapy, and those
dreadful hours sitting in hospital waiting rooms waiting for news.
While the film casts a square eye on death, it also
celebrates the living and their quiet heroism while also noting that life –
love and squabbles and humour – goes on.
Aside from the main pairing, there are also impressive
cameos from David Wilmot as a former teacher with terminal cancer and Amit
Shah, his partner, who is devastated by his impending loss.
This is a film that could have been depressing because of
its subject matter, but its attention to the smallest detail and nuance of
behaviour under stress makes it a kind of celebration of the human race.
Sensitively directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, Ordinary Love is a quiet, understated
gem that loudly proclaims the strength of a couple’s love under stress.
Ordinary Love is
showing at Gateway Mall. Patrick Compton
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