AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE
YOUR FATHER? (UK) aka
WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? (USA)
Year: 2007
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: Buena Vista International UK
Cast: Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee, Elaine Cassidy, Claire Skinner, Matthew Beard, Sarah Lancashire, Bradley Johnson, Carey Mulligan, Tara Berwin, Tilly Curtis
Director: Anand Tucker
Countries: UK / Ireland
USA & UK: 92 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material and brief strong language
UK Certificate: 12A contains strong language, moderate sex and bereavement theme
USA Release Date: 6 June 2008 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 5 October 2007
Synopsis
Arthur Morrison (Jim Broadbent) and his wife Kim (Juliet Stevenson) are GPs in the same medical practice in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. They have two children, Gillian (Claire Skinner), and her older brother Blake (Colin Firth), from whose perspective the story is told. Blake is 40 and married to Kathy (Gina McKee) with two children. An established author, Blake is having to face the fact that his father is terminally ill.
The film opens during a summer bank holiday family trip in the late 1950s when 8 year-old Blake and the rest of his family are embarrassment by Arthur's driving antics as he hits the hard shoulder to skip a long queue of traffic. It's the first of many flashbacks that illustrate Arthur's attitude to life and his pride in getting something for nothing. These childhood episodes also introduce Beaty (Sarah Lancashire) and her daughter, Josie. It soon becomes clear that Beaty and Arthur are more than just friends and that Josie is potentially Arthur's child. Adult Blake strives to find out the truth about Josie, and in doing so uncovers the interesting parameters of his father's marriage.
The essence of this father and son relationship is further expressed through flashbacks to Blake's teens - a family holiday, a fumbled affair with the au pair - where the awkward and introverted Blake is constantly crushed by his father's flirtatious ways and need to be the centre of attention. There are happy and tender memories too. But when Blake and his family confront the reality of Arthur's cancer, he is forced to reconcile himself with the past.
AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? was filmed on location in London, Sussex, Derbyshire, and at Twickenham Studios. It was directed by Anand Tucker (HILARY AND JACKIE), from a screenplay by David Nicholls, adapted from Blake Morrison's novel of the same name.