And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a
2007The year 2007 in film saw many new films released worldwide, including several major mainstream sequels, prequels, and remakes as well as original films.-Top grossing films:...
BritishThe United Kingdom has had a large impact on modern cinema and has one the most respected film industries in the world. Despite a history of successful productions, the industry is characterised by an ongoing debate about its identity and the influences of American and European cinema, although it...
/Irish
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
directed by
Anand TuckerAnand Tucker is a film director and producer based in London. He began his career directing factual television programming and adverts...
. The screenplay by
David Nicholls-Background:Nicholls is the middle of three siblings. He attended Barton Peveril sixth-form college at Eastleigh, Hampshire, from 1983 to 1985 , and playing a wide range of roles in college drama productions...
is based on the 1993
memoirAs a literary genre, a memoir , forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir, as listed here...
of the same title by
Blake MorrisonPhilip Blake Morrison is a British poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a...
.
The film is a series of
flashbackA flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened prior to the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s to various periods in the life of Blake Morrison as he remembers moments he shared with his father Arthur while he, his mother, and younger sister Gillian tend to him on his deathbed in his
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
home.
And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a
2007The year 2007 in film saw many new films released worldwide, including several major mainstream sequels, prequels, and remakes as well as original films.-Top grossing films:...
BritishThe United Kingdom has had a large impact on modern cinema and has one the most respected film industries in the world. Despite a history of successful productions, the industry is characterised by an ongoing debate about its identity and the influences of American and European cinema, although it...
/Irish
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
directed by
Anand TuckerAnand Tucker is a film director and producer based in London. He began his career directing factual television programming and adverts...
. The screenplay by
David Nicholls-Background:Nicholls is the middle of three siblings. He attended Barton Peveril sixth-form college at Eastleigh, Hampshire, from 1983 to 1985 , and playing a wide range of roles in college drama productions...
is based on the 1993
memoirAs a literary genre, a memoir , forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir, as listed here...
of the same title by
Blake MorrisonPhilip Blake Morrison is a British poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a...
.
Plot
The film is a series of
flashbackA flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened prior to the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s to various periods in the life of Blake Morrison as he remembers moments he shared with his father Arthur while he, his mother, and younger sister Gillian tend to him on his deathbed in his
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
home. Despite Blake's success as a writer, poet, and critic, his father - a rural
general practitionerA general practitioner or GP is a medical practitioner who provides primary care and specializes in family medicine. A general practitioner treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes...
- never accepted his decision to pursue a literary career nor was he willing to acknowledge his achievements in his field. Bullying, blustery, and boorish, Arthur blunders his way through fatherhood, regularly calling his son a fathead and intruding into the boy's private moments with a sense of entitlement. He has a penchant for exaggeration when he's not telling outright lies, and he publicly humiliates his long-suffering but passively complacent wife Kim with his shameless flirting with various women and an affair with Beaty, a friend of the family. At other times, he seems genuinely interested in bonding with his son, taking him camping so they can test supposedly waterproof sleeping bags he has made or allowing him to drive in the family's
AlvisAlvis cars were produced by the manufacturer Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd of Coventry, United Kingdom from 1919 to 1967. The company also produced aero-engines and military vehicles, the latter continuing long after car production ceased....
convertible on a wide expanse of deserted beach with reckless abandon. As a result, Blake is left with mixed feelings for the man, ranging from deeply-rooted anger to compassionate acceptance. Only after Arthur's death is he able to set aside his resentment and recognize him as a father whose flaws ultimately helped mold his son into the better man he is.
Production
The film was shot on location in
BrightonBrighton is a town in the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain...
in
East SussexEast Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey, Brighton and Hove and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:See main article:History of Sussex...
;
ChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
,
Goodwood- Events :* Goodwood Festival of Speed, a motorsport event in the United Kingdom* Glorious Goodwood, a horseracing event in the United Kingdom* Goodwood Revival, a historical motorsport event in the United Kingdom- Places and structures:in Australia...
,
PetworthPetworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
, and
West WitteringWest Wittering is a small village and civil parish, with a sandy beach, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies near the mouth of Chichester Harbour on the B2179 road 6.5 miles southwest of Chichester....
in
West SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
;
BakewellBakewell is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, deriving its name from 'Beadeca's Well'. It is the only town included in the Peak District National Park, and is well known for the local confection Bakewell Pudding...
,
KedlestonKedleston is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire. It lies to the north-west of Derby, and nearby places include Quarndon, Weston Underwood, Muggington, and Kirk Langley.-History:...
, and
Snake PassThe Snake Pass is the name given to the higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in the north of England....
in
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
; the
National Liberal ClubThe National Liberal Club, known to its members as the NLC, is a London gentlemen's club, now also open to women, which was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 for the purpose of providing club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly-enlarged electorate after the Third...
in
WestminsterWestminster is an area of Central London, within the City of Westminster. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
;
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
in
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
; and
Yorkshire DalesThe Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area, in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and Cumbria...
in
North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county, located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county in that region and also partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest ceremonial...
. Interiors were filmed at the
Twickenham Film StudiosTwickenham Film Studios is a film studio located in St Margarets, London, England, that is used by many motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Dr. Ralph Jupp on the site of a former ice-rink...
in
MiddlesexMiddlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
.
The film premiered at the Galway Film Festival in July 2007 and was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival, the
Telluride Film FestivalThe Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve, LTD....
, the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival begins the Thursday night after Labour Day and lasts for ten days. Between 300-400 films are screened at approximately 23 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, the
Edmonton International Film FestivalThe Edmonton International Film Festival is a nine-day film festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, hosted by the Garneau Theatre.It began in 1986 as ‘Local Heroes’ a smaller 3-day film festival in March. Over time the festival grew in size and scope. In 2003 the festival was moved to September,...
, and the
DinardDinard is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Bretagne in north-western France.Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a popular holiday destination, and has resulted in the town having a variety of famous visitors and residents...
Festival of British Cinema before going into theatrical release in the UK, Ireland, and Malta on 5 October 2007. It then was shown at the Rome Film Festival, the
Cairo International Film FestivalThe Cairo International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1976 and was the first film festival in the Middle East.-History:...
, the
Dubai International Film FestivalThe Dubai International Film Festival was launched in December 2004 under the theme: Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds.DIFF is held under the honorary Chairmanship of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum...
, the
Miami International Film FestivalThe Miami International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida in the late winter. The film festival is sponsored by the Miami Film Society, which has been around for more than 25 years....
, and the
Ashland Independent Film FestivalThe Ashland Independent Film Festival is a film festival that has been presented by the Southern Oregon Film Society since 2001. Held each spring over 5 days at the Varsity Theatre in downtown Ashland, Oregon, the festival presents international and domestic shorts and features in almost every...
before going into limited release in the US on 6 June 2008.
Cast
- Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
..... Arthur Morrison
- Colin Firth
Colin Andrew Firth is an English film, television, and stage actor. Firth first gained wide public attention, especially in England, for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the highly acclaimed 1995 television adaption of Pride and Prejudice...
..... Blake Morrison
- Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson CBE is an English actress of stage and screen.- Background :Juliet Anne Virginia Stevens was born in Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevens, an army officer...
..... Kim Morrison
- Gina McKee
Georgina "Gina" McKee is an English actress best known for her television roles in Our Friends in the North , The Lost Prince and The Forsyte Saga ; and her portrayal of Bella in the film Notting Hill .-Early life:The daughter of a coal miner, McKee grew up in Peterlee, County Durham — an...
..... Kathy Morrison
- Claire Skinner
Claire Skinner is an English actress, who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television career.-Biography:Born and brought up in Hemel Hempstead, Skinner, the youngest daughter of a shopkeeper and an Irish-born secretary, was immensely shy as a child. Skinner's childhood dream was to...
..... Gillian
- Sarah Lancashire
Sarah Lancashire is an English actress, probably best recognised for her role as Raquel Watts in Coronation Street. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1986.-Television:...
..... Beaty
- Matthew Beard
For the American child actor , see Matthew Beard .Matthew Beard is an English film and television actor, best known for his role as Blake Morrison in the 2007 film And When Did You Last See Your Father?....
..... Blake as a teenager
- Elaine Cassidy
Elaine Cassidy is an Irish actress and is best known for playing the lead character Abby Mills on Harper's Island.-Early life:Elaine Cassidy was born in Kilcoole, County Wicklow...
..... Sandra
- Bradley Johnson ..... Blake as a child
Critical reception
The film received generally favorable reviews.
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
reported 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 32 reviews, while
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 70 out of 100, based on 8 reviews.
Peter BradshawPeter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is film critic for The Guardian. He has written a novel, Dr Sweet and his Daughter, published in 2004...
of
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
rated the film four out of five stars, calling it "an intelligent and heartfelt film" and one that "deserves to be seen."
Philip FrenchPhilip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been film critic of The...
of
The ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a left-liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-History:The...
said the film "touches movingly, enlighteningly on universal matters we can all identify with, and it does so without ever getting maudlin or sentimental."
Damon Smith of the
Manchester Evening NewsThe Manchester Evening News is a British daily newspaper published each week day and on Saturdays which is owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is distributed throughout Greater Manchester. It sells 81,326 copies a day and gives away 99,574....
called the film "a bittersweet and, at times, moving account of the strained family ties which define each and every one of us."
Manohla DargisManohla Dargis is a film critic for The New York Times. She was formerly a film writer at The Village Voice, the film critic for the Los Angeles Times, and the editor of the film section at LA Weekly...
of the
New York Times called the film "A gentle tale gently told" and "grown-up, civilized fare" and added, "If that sounds like a compliment, it is, even though the whole thing might have been improved with a bit of messiness, a little vulgarity to leaven its tastefulness and tact. This isn’t a groundbreaking work; just a smartly played story, enlivened by drama and spiked with passion, the very thing that thinking audiences pine for, especially during the summer spectacle season when theaters are clogged with sticky kids’ stuff and television reruns."
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group, which filed for bankruptcy protection on March 31, 2009.-History:...
observed, "It's a sad movie, with a mournful score, romantic landscape photography and heartbreaking deathbed scenes . . . But it's not very satisfying . . . The film did not provide me with fulfillment or a catharsis . . . This is a film of regret, and judging by what we see of the characters, it deserves to be."
Walter Addiego of the
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
said, "This classy tearjerker is worth seeing more for its virtuoso acting than for its bare-bones tale of how a sensitive man copes with the death of his domineering father. The film is cleanly and intelligently made, and, excepting a few moments toward the end, it's moving without being mawkish. While you might leave the theater feeling the picture finally doesn't quite have the dramatic heft it should, it offers plenty of compensations along the way."
Derek Elley of
VarietyVariety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily...
called the film "immaculately acted, professionally helmed and saturated in period British atmosphere," "an unashamed tearjerker that’s all wrapping and no center," and "undeniably effective at a gut level despite its dramatic shortcomings." He added, "[B]y never getting to the heart of the matter, nor having even one scene where father and son
really talk, the movie has a big black hole at its core. In the smorgasbord of father-son relationship pics, this one is very low-cal."
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for seven
British Independent Film AwardsThe "British Independent Film Awards" is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British movies. The 2008 Award ceremony took place in the Old Billingsgate Market and was hosted by James Nesbitt. This years ceremony will take place on December 6th 2009 in central...
, including Best British Independent Film, Best Actor (Jim Broadbent), Best Supporting Actor (Colin Firth), Most Promising Newcomer (Matthew Beard), Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Jim Broadbent was nominated for the
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorThe London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year in an annual award given by the London Film Critics Circle.-2000s:...
but lost to
Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with British and Irish citizenship. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only four films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles. He is a method actor, known for his constant...
in
There Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood is a 2007 American drama film directed, written and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! . It tells the story of a silver-miner-turned-oil-man on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the...
.
Elaine Cassidy was nominated for the
Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Film RoleThe Fifth Annual Irish Film and Television Awards took place on February 17th, 2008 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.-Film:Film* Garage** Becoming Jane** Closing the Ring** Kings** ShroomsInternational Film...
but lost to
Saoirse RonanSaoirse Ronan is an Irish actress. She is the eleventh youngest person to be nominated for an Academy Award and the seventh youngest to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Ronan received multiple award nominations for her role as the young Briony Tallis in the film Atonement...
in
AtonementAtonement is a 2007 film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel of the same name, directed by Joe Wright, and based on a screenplay by Christopher Hampton. It starred Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006 in England and France...
.
DVD release
The Region 1 DVD was released on 4 November 2008. The film is in
anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen is a videographic technique using rectangular pixels to store a widescreen image to standard 4:3 aspect ratio. In its current definition as a video term, it was originally devised for widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio television sets.-DVD Video:DVDs using anamorphic widescreen are...
format with an audio track in English and subtitles in French and Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by director Anand Tucker, deleted scenes, and the original trailer.
External links