they don't get much better than this.
This is a gem of a film. Funny and absorbing from beginning to end, it's a feel-good film about a group of old people in an Irish boarding house run by a rather harrassed Kate. Some paying guests are leaving because of the quarrelling and sniping of 4 members of the household. The arrival of Kate's more laid-back sister, Ellie, (the lovely little actress, Hayley Atwell) slowly begins to create a less rigid atmosphere and when Kate goes away at Christmas to spend time with their ailing mother, Ellie gradually draws them out after giving them a good talking to, and happy, individual characters emerge.
Vanessa Redgrave is a joy as an ex-screen beauty belting it out in the local pub, and Imelda Staunton and Brenda Fricker as the warring sisters are funny and quaint. Joss Ackland gives another wonderful performance as the ex-judge still wary of falling down off the wagon.
This is a compact, visually rich, and comedic film with these established actors strutting their stuff with sassy aplomb. A Must See.