Peggy Ashcroft shines in this, I believe it was her last role before she died in 1991 from a stroke.
Her performances in anything other than stage are rare and are to be treasured.
She is utterly believable here as a woman who has been incarcerated in a mental institution for 60 years for the crime of just being a wild young woman in her time and deemed unmanageable by her family.
She and the wife (played by Geraldine James who also appeared with Peggy Ashcroft in the "Jewel in the Crown") of her grand-nephew form an uneasy alliance in the household which is controlled by both the afore-mentioned husband and their young son who gives one of the most chilling child performances ever captured on film.
How the two women escape together from the strictures of their lives forms the bulk of the story. A haunting film.
8 out of 10.
Her performances in anything other than stage are rare and are to be treasured.
She is utterly believable here as a woman who has been incarcerated in a mental institution for 60 years for the crime of just being a wild young woman in her time and deemed unmanageable by her family.
She and the wife (played by Geraldine James who also appeared with Peggy Ashcroft in the "Jewel in the Crown") of her grand-nephew form an uneasy alliance in the household which is controlled by both the afore-mentioned husband and their young son who gives one of the most chilling child performances ever captured on film.
How the two women escape together from the strictures of their lives forms the bulk of the story. A haunting film.
8 out of 10.