Before You Go

In a film industry where the lack of money spent on script development for the big-budget movies is constantly bemoaned, films like this are supposed to come along and make the viewer yearn for the good old days when movies were rich in character, colour and conversation. After this dire effort, though, I'm back to waiting for the X-Men and Matrix sequels. The cast list suggests better, but the performances across the board are very weak, the characters totally one-dimensional and the story JUST NOT INTERESTING. I suspect it was supposed to be a study of the different ways we deal with personal grief, but the director failed to put this across in any kind of coherent or engaging fashion. I hate to single anyone out for particular criticism, but Joanne Whalley was school-play awful. Save your 90 minutes and do almost anything else.

An excellent film with superb acting by all the cast. Encapsulated the lives of three sisters with humour, tragedy, pathos and humanity. A welcome change from some of the more digitalised and violent films of the recent era. Difficult to pick out which was the best actress they were all so good and so different. The funeral scene at the end was brilliant. The audience reaction was one of pure pleasure at a good story well acted and presented. Top marks to the Director.

Seven years after his thrilling movie "Haunted", Lewis Gilbert released his next movie, based on the Olivier Award-winning stage play by Shelagh Stephenson (who also adapted it for the big screen). Some critics (like Gaby Wood from "The Observer) loathed it and tore it into shreds, saying, "It was a shame that Gilbert decided to do another movie", others loved its beauty and serenity.

The movie is a tragic comedy, or a funny tragedy. Basically, it's a deeply moving portrayal of a torn-apart family, the story of three wasted lives, but it's also an ode to the women, or to the strength that only women seem to be capable of.

Julie Walters, who was the star of Gilbert's hit movie "Educating Rita", delivers a stunning performance - probably one of the best performances in her entire career. Joanne Whalley is equally good in her portrayal of Mary, and you can't take your eyes off the gorgeous Patricia Hodge, who's playing their mother. The only bad performance, matter-of-factly, comes from Victoria Hamilton who's overacting in every scene she's in. She seemed to be resistant against Gilbert's masterful direction.

Debbie Wiseman's haunting, compelling score is flowing gently through the film, and the photography leaves you breathless. "Before You Go" was shot almost entirely on location on the Isle of Man (only very few shots were made at Twickenham Studios). Gilbert's sense for beautiful settings has always been unique - even in his three former based-on-stage-play movies ("Alfie", "Educating Rita", and "Shirley Valentine") you could perceive that.

Alas, the talents of John Hannah and Tom Wilkinson, both very fine actors, are basically wasted here. But after all, this is a woman's movie. And a great one.

I am a A Level Drama student and for my final performance my group are performing 'The Memory of Water' the original play by Shelagh Stephenson. As soon as our group read the script we thought it was great, it has plenty of humour and pace and great characters and is a pleasure to read and perform.

So when we discovered this movie version we were expecting a little gem of a film... however this was not the case! Not even the all star cast could save this film from sinking. It was truly disappointing - the acting was poor and the whole mood of the film was completely lack lustre. The directors interpretation completely downplayed all the humour in the play and the witty and bickering tension between the sisters. He turned the play into one long boring non-event.

I would highly recommend the play, but to anyone else performing this play I would give this film version a definite miss as you will only be left disappointed!

This film was a joy from start to finish. The diversity of characters was interesting and the acting by all was superb. The story is touching, full of laughs and no one really takes centre stage. This film truely delivered what it was meant to. Julie walters was wondeful as the eldest sister and had me laughing out loud in places as did the younger sister. The male support was amazing, it couldnt be anything else with Tom wilkinson. Very colourful characters, a film that really does get to the heart of the matter in a way thats easy to watch. This film makes you laugh and smile and want to watch it again and again. The last review makes a criticism that the cast arnt able to do much without the help of the writer or director but then goes on to say the cast offer much but arnt' given anything to work with.

For anyone reading this that hasnt had the opportunity to watch this film, please watch it. Its wonderful