When Did You Last See Your Father? opens with a fatherly voice explaining, "funny thing about the universe, it sort of scares the shit out of you." That's our first introduction to Arthur (Jim Broadbent), the father of this story. Blake (Colin Firth) takes over narrating the story and explains that his father could talk his way into or out of anything, and to a child he seemed invincible and infallible. But to the adult Blake, his father seemed harsh, insensitive, and sometimes even downright cruel. Blake's a writer and Arthur is a doctor, and Blake feels that his father has never respected his career choice. But now Blake has to face his father's terminal illness and impending death. The film is made up of Blake's memories of growing up intercut with scenes of him trying to find some sort of closure to his father. Some of the memories are painful, some funny, some insightful.
A son's exploration of his relationship with his father and coming to terms with what that relationship means is familiar ground. Think I Never Sang for My Father, The Great Santini or Big Fish - just to name a few. When Did You Last See Your Father? succeeds as those films did in creating a memorable on screen dad. In the case of this latest film, the memorable dad is thanks mostly to the wonderful Jim Broadbent. Broadbent has been brilliant in both small roles (like Hot Fuzz, Art School Confidential) and major ones as in Iris or Topsy-Turvy . With Arthur, he conveys a childish sense of fun and pleasure, and a casual cruelness. He is someone who does more harm than he ever intends, and is oblivious to how his behavior might affect others or be perceived by those around him. But he also has humor and kindness, and a larger than life quality. Part of the craft of the performance is how Broadbent allows this large man to slowly fade away.
Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth as father and son (Sony Pictures Classics)
The main problem with the film, though, is one of balance. Broadbent's character and performance are far stronger than that of Blake and Firth. Firth's Blake reminds me of a woman I once met at a funeral. The service was for her father and she said she had read that when an oppressive parent passes away it can set the child free to accomplish things. Now there might be truth in that but with Firth's Blake, you feel like he needs to stop moping about and take some responsibility for his own life. One of the main issues Blake has with his father is that Blake suspects his dad of having had an affair. The moral judgment he levies against his father over the years - without ever securing firm proof - seems overly severe and seems to consume far too much of his energy. Plus that is really more of an issue between Arthur and his wife (Juliet Stevenson), rather than for the son. Firth's performance, like his character, exists in the shadow of Broadbent's Arthur and that weakens the film.
Director Anand Tucker, who explored another troubled real life relationship in Hilary and Jackie , makes a good effort to invest the film with some visual flair. He plays nicely off of mirrors and windows suggesting how these reflections of the characters differ from what they are or how they seem themselves. There's one lovely moment when the adult Blake enters his old room and when he looks in he sees his teenaged self on the bed abut his adult image is reflected in a small mirror, it is the author observing himself. Tucker also finds a certain lyricism to images, capturing mood and feelings rather than concrete events and action.
But Tucker and screenwriter David Nicholls (Starter for 10) have less success with the narrative structure as it attempts to flow back and forth in time. Sometimes the transitions from the present to the past are effortless but others feel forced and create confusion. The rather poetic look of the film helps to smooth over some of these transitions and to endow the film with the flow of a stream of consciousness, but a little more care in the scripting would have helped.
Juliet Stevenson (Sony Pictures Classics)
For the most part the film avoids sloppy sentimentality as it chronicles the ups and downs of the family. Its only severe emotional misstep occurs at the end with a maudlin 360 degree tracking shot around father and son. As the shot spins and spins it seems to be trying to wring tears and emotion out of the audience. It didn't need this. The very last shot of the film provides the absolutely perfect cap to the story and it avoids sappy sentiment in favor of a clear-eyed and spot-on summation of Arthur. But the film handles the mother's final scene with Arthur well. As Arthur's wife, Juliet Stevenson delivers a low key performance that in its quiet dignity conveys the depth of her feelings for her flawed husband. Her final scene with Broadbent is truly touching and effectively subtle.
When Did You Last See Your Father? (rated PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material and brief strong language) stands out mostly because of Jim Broadbent, and on the strength of his & performance I would recommend the film.
Companion viewing: I Never Sang for My Father, Big Fish, Iris, Hilary and Jackie, Starter for 10
