‘A Clever Woman’ — engagingly low-key English drama defies expectations

Author: The Guardian

British indie director Jon Sanders creates another of his low-key, thoughtful movies developed through improvisation; it is a static, eccentric chamber piece in some ways, but engaging and pregnant with ideas about mourning and grief. Josie Lawrence and Tanya Myers play Dot and Phoebe, two sisters who have come to the seaside home of their late mother, a singer and entertainer, to confront the daunting task of sorting out all her belongings and theatrical memorabilia. This opens up painful memories and psychic wounds: however much they loved her, their mother was serially unfaithful to their father – once with a boyfriend of Phoebe’s – and now they don’t know how to feel. These themes of sexual transgression are strangely echoed in the present action, as if the women’s mother is haunting the property. Their friend Monica who has come to help them, is attracted to Tom, a young man who has been housesitting the property; she feels guilty about her husband, an excellent cameo from the late Bob Goody.

Share
Leave a Comment

Recent Posts

  • Pakistan

PIA Operations Resume Smoothly in United Arab Emirates

In a welcome development for travelers, flights operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the…

2 hours ago
  • Business

RemoteWell, Godaam Technologies and Digitt+ present Top Ideas at Zar Zaraat agri-startup competition

“Agriculture, as a sector, hold the key to prosperity, food security, and the socioeconomic upliftment…

2 hours ago
  • Editorial

Wheat Woes

Months after a witty, holier-than-thou, jack-of-all-trades caretaker government retreated from the executive, repeated horrors from…

7 hours ago
  • Editorial

Modi’s Tricks

For all those hoping to see matured Pak-India relations enter a new chapter of normalisation,…

7 hours ago
  • Cartoons

TODAY’S CARTOON

7 hours ago
  • Op-Ed

Exceptionally Incendiary Rhetoric

Narendra Modi is seeking the premiership of the country for the record third time. The…

7 hours ago