And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Anand Tucker

Writers:

Blake Morrison (book) and
David Nicholls (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 October 2007 (Ireland)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

A parent and a child. The past and the present. Memories and secrets. Can you know someone for a lifetime.... and not know them at all? The life of a father. Through the journey of a son.

Plot:

The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.

Plot Keywords:

Death | Dying | Cancer | Hospital | Voice Over Narration

Awards:

1 win & 9 nominations

Cast

Jim Broadbent	...	Arthur
Colin Firth	...	Blake
Juliet Stevenson	...	Kim
Gina McKee	...	Kathy
Sarah Lancashire	...	Beaty
Elaine Cassidy	...	Sandra
Claire Skinner	...	Gillian
Matthew Beard	...	Blake - Teen
Bradley Johnson	...	Blake - Child
Chris Middleton	...	Racing Steward
Elliot Avery	...	Peter
Rhiannon Howden	...	Sophie
Tom Butcher	...	Dr. Taggart
Alannah Barlow	...	Gillian - Child
Tara Berwin	...	Gillian - Teen

Also Known As:

When Did You Last See Your Father? (USA) (new title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material and brief strong language.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Canada:14A | Australia:M | Netherlands:6 | New Zealand:M | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Archer Street Productions

Trivia:

Matthew Beard wore brown coloured contact lenses in order to look more like Colin Firth.

Quotes:

Blake Morrison: [making a public speech] You know, my dad always used to say that being a poet is all well and good but it's no way to make a living.
Arthur Morrison: Too true.

Movie Connections:

References A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

How to take a familiar subject and make a superb film from it

This is a beautifully written, well acted but above all wonderfully directed film looking at a man who learns about himself by finding out about his father. Colin Firth plays a real writer who wrote an auto-biographical novel about his relationship with his father played by Jim Broadbent. It's not a spoiler to say that the father is dying because that diagnosis is given very early on. While the family waits for him to die, events take Firth's memories effortlessly through his past showing him played very well by young actors at 8 and 17.

The events are funny and moving but restrained within a believable reality. Firth learns to live with his father's behaviour as we see that he isn't perfect either. It's positive about life without being sentimental, terrific film.