THE MOST ACCLAIMED ACTOR OF HIS GENERATION IN THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME.
Aging actor Maurice Russel (Peter O’Toole) goes out for drinks with the daughter (Jodie Whittaker) of his best friend’s niece; he falls in love with her, more or less, and she decides to humor him for a while. Director Roger Michell and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi returned to the same theme as in The Mother (2003) – the passion that could lie in the meeting between two generations. The protagonists share a mutual childishness that also makes them clash at times. Watching O’Toole play this funny, hopeless, vulnerable connoisseur of life is like opening a window to his professional and personal experiences; Michell also hits the right tones in this honest portrait of old age.
2006-Britain. 94 min. Color. Produced by Kevin Loader. Directed by Roger Michell. Screenplay: Hanif Kureishi. Cast: Peter O’Toole (Maurice Russel), Leslie Phillips (Ian), Jodie Whittaker (Jessie), Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave… Andrea Riseborough.
Trivia: Riseborough’s first film.
Last word: “There I was waiting, when up this long flight of stairs, wheezing, groaning … comes Peter, supported by an old actor friend, laughing and telling outrageous stories as he occasionally paused for breath. Over lunch, he was sensitive, funny, thoughtful, quite delicate and pretty much perfect. I knew the man I met that day should play Maurice.” (Michell, Los Angeles Times)
