December Flower

A Stephen Frears mini masterpiece. Beautifully acted by Mona Washbourne, Jean Simmons and Pat Heywood, this is a story about the abuse of an elderly woman. Made bed-ridden by the poor diet inflicted upon her by a mean spirited housekeeper (in cohoots with the woman's inheritance-greedy relatives) until an affectionate and caring niece arrives and is appalled by what she sees. Making sure her diet is improved and getting the elderly woman to get out of bed, she awakens the old woman's former sense of humour and well-being, manifesting itself in ghastly acts of bad taste just to offend the inheritance seekers. It is a gleeful old woman who watches the appalled expression on the faces of her relatives when she shows them her new Mickey Mouse telephone and repulsive new fireplace. Sad, hysterically funny and ultimately triumphant, this tightly scripted piece about abuse of the elderly is as timely as ever. A must-see movie. Certainly worthy of a DVD release to compliment the other Stephen Frears re-releases.

In December Flower, a woman comes to visit her sick aunt, and she stays to help take care of her. When I first started watching this movie, I thought Jean Simmons would play the sick aunt, since the movie was made in 1984. Surprisingly enough, she plays the niece! Both she and her aunt, played by Mona Washbourne, give excellent performances, but I'm giving you a fair warning, this is a hard film to watch. Mona is bedridden, very ill, and in some scenes catatonic, and this movie doesn't shy away from the difficulties of caring for someone in that condition. It's not graphic, but this is a very emotional movie.

If you like the type of movie that brings hope to someone in their eleventh hour, you'll probably want to watch this one and bring your Kleenexes. As a bonus, you'll see a very young Jim Carter, better known for his role as Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey!