Before You Go

Before You Go

• Director: Lewis Gilbert
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Julie Walters, Joanne Whalley, Victoria Hamilton, Patricia Hodge, John Hannah, Tom Wilkinson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julie Walters – Mamma Mia 1&2, The Hollow Crown Henry IV Parts One and Two, Henry V, Harry Potter 1-8, Becoming Jane, Driving Lessons, Wah-Wah, Calendar Girls, Billy Elliot, Titanic Tow, Intimate Relations, Prick Up Your Ears, Educating Rita
• Joanne Whalley – Wolf Hall, Flood, Dance with a Stranger
• Victoria Hamilton – Babyfather, The Merchant of Venice, Pride and Prejudice
• Patrica Hodge – Hustle, Morse
• John Hannah – Sliding Doors, Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Tom Wilkinson– The Lone Ranger, Hotel Marigold, Valkyria, Michael Clayton, Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Shakespeare in Love, Wilde, The Full Monty, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Prince of Jylland
• Why?  Julie Walters
• Seen:  3 November 2019 

Theresa (Walters) is summoned to the hospital with her husband Frank (Wilkinson) to be told that her mother has died. Her two younger sisters Mary (Whalley) and Catherine (Hamilton) meet her at their childhood home, a stunning place on the Isle of Man.

‘Someone dies, people drink whisky. It’s normal,’ says Mary, a doctor. Catherine buys golden high heels and smokes pot to cope. Theresa vacuums obsessively. Mary has hallucinations of her mother’s ghost. Theresa does yoga chanting health food recipes. Catherine says, ‘I can’t cry. I didn’t like her.’

Three sisters. A dead mother. Conflicts and conflicting memories. They’re all a mess. That’s it.

It’s a bit funny, a lot weird, and not always as entertaining as I had expected. Mary, with her useless married lover (Hannah) and secret past, isn’t as interesting as she should be. Walters is, as always, amazing and Hamilton is a treat as the flaky youngest sister.

3 * of 5 (Hal gives it 4*)