Its such a shame that an important film like this is virtually unknown.I don't think Alan Bates has done a better film than this.Its never shown on television. The only time I can recall it being shown on British TV was in the summer of 1998. I have it on tape but sadly the quality isn't great due to a dodgy aerial at the time...I remember wanting to see this film for some time before it appeared on TV. It was shown on Channel 4 in the early hours of the morning, thereby ensuring that it still remained unseen except for a very small audience.I was living in Bristol at the time and it was ironic that, when I finally saw the film, I realised that I had walked past the VERY house where it was filmed several times before!! The film treads a fine line; a married couple attempting to make light of their tragic predicament of coping with their severely mentally handicapped daughter by laughing about it and even involving the child in their jokes.The direction and the acting are so superb that the film is always compassionate and moving and is never in danger of lapsing into bad taste.A couple of years ago I saw a clip of the filmed theatre production with Eddie Izzard in the role of Bri and Victoria Hamilton playing Sheila.It showed Izzard improvising and larking about and Hamilton jokingly telling the audience to ignore him when he's being like this.I maybe taking this out of context as I only saw a brief clip but having read the play and seen the film this is clearly such a delicate subject that such an approach is both insensitive and disrespectful.Izzard was praised for his performance but I felt uncomfortable with what I saw.It is perhaps surprising that such a successful play failed to find an audience when it was finally filmed.This is one of the best British films of the 70s and hopefully it will be released on DVD one day.
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