Saving Grace

 

Saving Grace 2000

• Director: Nigel Cole
• Seen by this director: Last Tango in Halifax, Made in Dagenham, The Calendar Girls
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, martin Clunes, Tchéky Karyo, Jamie Foreman, Bill Bailey, Valerie Edmond, Diana Quick, Phyllida Law
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brenda Blethyn – Vera, London River, Atonement, Little Voice, Secrets and Lies, Henry Vi Part One, King Lear
• Craig Ferguson – Born Romantic
• Martin Clunes – Shakespeare in Love, Swing Kids, Jeeves and Wooster
• Tchéky Karyo – A Long Engagement, Nikita, Australia, The Bear
• Jamie Foreman – Hustle, Doctor Who, Sleepy Hollow, Elizabeth, Nil by Mouth
• Bill Bailey – Hustle, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, Black Books
• Diana Quick – The Living and the Dead
• Phyllida Law – Copying Beethoven, The Winter Guest, Before the Rain, Much Ado About Nothing, Peter’s Friends, The Life and Death of King John
• Why? I remember enjoying it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 15 January 2024 

       Grace (Blethyn) is a middle-aged widow whose late husband has left her nothing but a grieving mistress (Quick) and an enormous debt. She can’t do much about the mistress except have her over for a drink (but she proves useful later) but the debts she can pay when she helps her gardener Matthew (Ferguson) save his sickly marijuana plants. She’s an excellent gardener and she comes up with a plan.

       Soon the whole Cornish village knows what she and Matthew are up to but as the pub owner says, they are just upholding the village tradition of not giving a fig (he uses another word) for obeying the law.

       It’s a good-hearted comedy in the best British tradition with eccentric characters, absurd scenes and a top-notch cast.    

 

4* of 5