Jim Broadbent is perfectly cast as the dislocated pensioner who has given up on life (Picture: Entertainment One)
The 2012 book was a smash hit – a movie version, thus, inevitable. And its many fans can be reassured that actress-turned-author Rachel Joyce here movingly adapts her bestseller for the big screen.
Her hero, Harold, is equally in safe hands with national treasure Jim Broadbent. Retired and low-level depressed, Harold’s twilight years are turned upside down when he receives a letter. It’s a final farewell from a former colleague with terminal cancer.
Harold isn’t the most emotionally attuned stick in the music box, but even he knows his attempted reply of ‘Dear Queenie, Thank you for your letter. I am very sorry. Best wishes, Harold (Fry)’ is inadequate.
Instead, inspired by a chance encounter with a stranger, Harold resolves to walk 600 miles to Queenie’s hospice in the belief that this will ‘save’ her – much to the bewilderment of his long-suffering wife (a career-best Penelope Wilton).
A stirring, life-affirming pilgrimage from despair to hope, it’s unabashedly sentimental – exactly the kind of movie that critics can get snooty about. But I’ll happily admit that I sobbed.
Yes, the script can be too on the nose, especially in the opening encounters; yes, the flashbacks to Harold’s history with his son are cringeworthy; and, yes, some parts could be classed as cheesy. But this cheese has a distinctly English flavour – a movie equivalent of Ticklemore. Bittersweet and eccentric.
A stirring, life-affirming pilgrimage from despair to hope (Picture: Film 4)
Broadbent is perfectly cast as the dislocated pensioner who had given up on life, only to belatedly find his purpose, and Wilton is a revelation. The direction isn’t of the same class, however. Despite some Yasujiro Ozu-like ‘pillow shots’ that cut to laundry billowing in the breeze or raindrops on roses (but no whiskers on kittens), this is no classic to rival Ozu’s Tokyo Story. But it’s not trying to be.
It’s a non-religious pilgrim story about the power of hope and faith. A movie that celebrates everyday joys and human connection. The perfect pick-me-up tonic for tough times.
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Fans of its book can rest assured it’s movingly adapted.Â
