Finding Your Feet

(Warning: contains spoilers for Finding Your Feet)

There's something very pleasing about the fact that Finding Your Feet actually exists.  Britain seems to have a wealth of actors in their 60s and above, who are fit and well and keen to continue acting in lead roles in films, thank you very much.  We've seen that there's a market for it since The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel came along in 2011, leading to sequels and television shows.  America has recognised that there is significant market in the Silver Pound (Dollar, over there, I guess) since Grace and Frankie proved popular and is currently on it's fourth series.  It makes sense - older age leads to unique circumstances which mean you need to leave familiar surroundings and do something different.  That is a sure fire recipe for stories.

No feet in this picture.

Finding Your Feet tells the story of posh socialite Sandra (Imelda Staunton) who discovers her husband (John Sessions) has been having an affair with a family friend (Josie Lawrence) and moves in with her estranged hippie sister Bif (Celia Imrie).  She is quickly introduced to a new way of life (dating and flash mobs in central London) far away from her tennis clubs and silverware lifestyle of Surrey.  Dancing ensues.

The cast is tremendous - Imelda Staunton really fleshes out the character of Sandra, who has let so much joy escape from her life in order to look after her husband and her children - a joy she currently seems to have in her grandson - but that comes back in abundance once she gets over some of her uptightedness with Bif.  Celia Imrie, meanwhile, is in standard top form as Bif.  Saucy, no nonsense, always with a bit of a twinkle in her eye but can quickly dial up the drama when it's called for.  Timothy Spall is just never anything less than great as Charlie, who is struggling to cope with his wife who is in a care home with dementia, and who is becoming more and more agitated by Charlie - a man she recognises less and less.  They all meet regularly at a local dance class.

It's worth highlighting the cast for a lot of praise, because they really lift what is a pretty poor script.  A lot of the scenes are surprisingly short, and seem more at home in a sitcom than a film which leads to some odd pacing.  The script is heavy-handed in laboured one liners ("I divorced my last husband because of religious reasons - he thought he was God, and I disagreed", snarks Joanna Lumley, who is particularly poorly served in lines), full of lines that really could have been left to subtext - particularly given the quality of the cast.  ("I can fix anything, but I can't fix my wife's mind", weeps Charlie, screwdriver in hand).  The group decide to stage a flash mob for Age UK - "1 in 7 old people die of the cold", notes Lumley in another rather clunky moment.  Except we never see any possibility of that being true - we see older people aplenty, but they all seem to be warm, well fed, looked after, and financially solvent (Charlie has sold his house to pay for his wife's care home, and is now living on a houseboat, but this doesn't seem to be a concern for him or anyone around him).         

T shirts in December seem an odd choice when we're told 1
in 7 will die of the cold...

The sweetness is found in the smaller, unspoken moments - and again, that is testament to the cast rather than the script.  When Charlie decides to say goodbye to his wife, and tells Bif of his decision, Imrie responds wordlessly in such a way that relays that he is not the first in the group to have made this decision.  Ted (David Hayman) unexpectedly finds a part of the dance class hard, because the song used was the first dance at his wedding to his now-deceased wife - his grief at the moment, and comfort offered by Charlie is one of few examples of small moments, well done.

The other difficulty with this film is that it's trying a bit too hard to have its cake and eat it too.  It is a film that is specifically about age, but doesn't credit any of the characters with having any age related issues (all are mobile, physically and mentally well - with the exception of Charlie's wife who is just a plot device - surrounded by loving family and friends, stalwarts of their communities).  The only "symptom" of age that is discussed is that any of them might die at any moment, which seems somewhat reductive.  It is obvious that there is a market and a thirst for films with leading older actors.  It is also obvious that there is a wealth of actors eligible for those films.  So let's see films that better reflect this.  This genre has life in it yet, but has still to find its feet.

Feet!  Found them!

Additional thoughts, questions and comments:

• It was positive to see a tech savvy older generation on Facebook, YouTube, Skype and dating sites while texting and on phones - so why did the final act revolve around an unexpected letter when it was clear that time was pressing?  

• Kudos to the set designer who created Bif's flat - a whole life and personality perfectly described in a couple of square feet.